Lucent Knights
by Dreadburner94
Summary: In a day and age of conflict and subjugation, one of the few guilds left untouched by the state struggles to survive against all odds. They'll have to fight enemies from all fronts and even themselves if they want to keep it all together.
1. Prologue

**A/N:** So, I'm back, after several months of trying and failing to recover the documents of my old stories that got lost when my last laptop died. But I'm gonna be saving the rest of the A/N for the end. So I hope you enjoy.

* * *

 **Prologue**

The land of Fiore, once known as a kingdom of peace and magic, had fallen. Not to invaders with hostile ambitions or anything of the sort, but rather to a civil uprising, one that demanded that peace be achieved through strength and victory in battle, so that the nation would not suffer as it did in the past during the Alvaren invasion. Now in the year X847, Fiore has become the most powerful military force in western Ishgar, as the nation's mages had been subjugated by the state with many of the legal mage guilds being ruled directly by the government and their appointed Guild Masters.

But with the subjugation of the guilds, the mages of Fiore grew more and more irritated with the state of the nation and many fled to join what Fiore would call a new breed of Dark Guild that opposes the state and would go on to lay the blame of many of the nation's problems solely on them. But not all guilds were subjugated or turned dark and Lucent Knights is one of those few guilds.

 **August 20** **th** **, X847**

Two figures stood atop the stone walls, looking over the parapet and out to the western ocean, the red sun dipping down below the horizon, concern and stress very visible in their eyes, even as the cool ocean breeze blew over the castle wall and through their hair as the squawking of seagulls could be heard all around them.

"A decision will have to be made soon, Master," the taller, male figure announced, "The Prime Minister is not a patient man and he will use any excuse to bring us under his thumb."

"I know Mordekai," the smaller, female figure sighed, "It's just difficult to deal with that man. I can't tell him no, but I can't let him feel like he can just push Lucent Knights around either. He'll get too many ideas in his head if we just bend the knee and do as he says."

Mordekai looked down towards his Guild Master, a small hint of pride visible in his expression, "If it means anything, I believe that you're right to think so. Caution is vital in this day and age."

"Right. Especially after that whole Knights Harrowing fiasco. I said too many of the wrong things at the wrong time and that cost us far too much," the Guild Master said, turning around, away from the sea to look up at the guildhall behind her.

"It could not be avoided. They made their decision to leave and fight the Prime Minister. There was nothing that could be done to stop them."

"I'm not so sure… If I had been a better leader, if I had been more understanding, more willing to stand up for the guild when it needed me most…"

"Stop talking like that, Aliah," Mordekai interrupted, turning completely towards the woman and placing one of his armored hands on her shoulder, "It will do no good to dwell on such negative thoughts. Focus on what you did right, how you can learn from your mistakes and improve on them. By doing that, you will be doing the best thing that you can for the guild."

"This is why I always say you would be a much better guild master than I could ever be. You're so much wiser and stronger than I am," Aliah stated as she looked up at the man in front of her, her dark red hair blowing behind her in the wind, "Why did my mother choose me, her bastard daughter, instead of her strong, loyal brother that everyone already respected?"

"Aliah, she chose you because she knew that it would be what is best for you and for the guild," Mordekai explained, as he had many times before.

"But is that what you think is best for the guild?" Aliah questioned.

"It is. You have already done what I would be unable to do. I would have lost the guild by now to civil war if I had been Guild Master and we would all be dead or part of Knights Harrowing," Mordekai said as his blue eyes looked into her gold ones, "You are the only one who can lead the guild through these troubled times."

All Aliah could do was look up at her uncle, shocked that he would say that, and a bit embarrassed as well, but she could feel something bubbling up inside her akin to pride and confidence.

"Well, if you really believe so, I think we have a guild that needs running in there. I'm sure everyone's starting to get rowdy now," Aliah stated, a small laugh rising in her voice as she thought of her mage's antics.

"Of course. And we need to make sure morale is high as well," Mordekai added, "Blood Moon will be upon us very soon."

"Right, just another thing the Prime Minister is happy to blame the mages for and make the mages deal with," Aliah said as the two turned and began to walk back into the guildhall.

* * *

 **A/N:** Right, well there's the prologue and I'm sure you've got a few questions.

Credits:

 **Aliah Merle – Dreadburner94**

 **Mordekai Norwood – Dreadburner94**

First off though, special thanks to MyDearWatson, Origm2012 and The Impostor for letting me bounce ideas off of them a bit while setting this up.

But anyways, yes, I live! And I'm hopefully back into writing now that my life has settled down a bit now. I am going on vacation on the 29th though, so I'll hopefully have a lot of free time for the next week or so. But as for my other stories, due to circumstances out of my control, all but the Pergrande Project are essentially on hiatus cause I lost all my documents for them and the Project was something I started writing with my current laptop. But chapters should become longer and more frequent as I get back into the feel of things.

Regarding this story though, this is an SYOC that takes place over 50 years after the end of Fairy Tail in a rather dark setting overall, as the world is in a state of unrest, as is the guild.

Regarding submissions though, you can find the form and additional rules and information in my profile. ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST BE SENT IN THROUGH PMS! The reason being that I need to be able to contact you if I have any questions, need things fixed or changed and so that your character is not completely on display for everyone to see and know everything about right off the bat. As such, any characters submitted through reviews will be ignored.

Anyways, thanks for checking out the prologue and having interest in the story. I hope you enjoyed it.

Your host,

Dreadburner94


	2. Tables, Blood and Puns

**A/N:** And here we are with chapter 1.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Tables, Blood and Puns**

 **August 20th, X847**

Aliah and Mordekai walked into the guildhall, both letting out a sigh as they laid eyes on what seemed to be a table stacking competition down below in the tavern area of the guildhall beneath the balcony they had stepped onto. Mordekai could only pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation while shaking his head, but Aliah was quick to jump into action.

"You break those tables and you pay for new ones, ya hear!" she shouted down at the mages beneath her.

"We haven't even got to stacking the chairs on top of 'em yet!" she heard a mage complain.

"You'll pay for those too!" Aliah added in response, pointing down at the mage in question, "You hear me Lev! And these tables are already as high up as I am way up here! Are there even any left on the ground?"

"Course there are!" she heard another mage happily chime, "The two holding up our two stacks!"

"Not what I meant, Nym!" Aliah yelled back, gripping the rail in front of her as her head snapped towards ashen gray haired woman down beneath.

"Hey Danae!" Aliah heard Lev call out to another mage, "I bet you can't stack and hold ten mugs in one hand! I'll give you a thousand jewels if you can do it for thirty seconds!"

"You're on!" a young girl shouted back in response to the black haired mage as she picked up a mug and the others around her started stacking them on top of it."

"Mordekai, why are they all like this?" Aliah whined as she turned around and slumped up against the railing as she sat down, tears running down her face.

"They need to blow off steam, much to the misfortune of our jewel reserves," the older man sighed in response, "But I suppose that comes with being one of the last free guilds," he added as a loud chorus of counting went on in the background, Mordekai letting out yet another sigh as he watched the pillar of mugs wobble back and forth in Danae's hand.

"So long as they don't break anything, it's fine… I suppose," Aliah mumbled, only to hear a loud crash as soon as she finished speaking, immediately darting up and turning around, nearly flipping over the rail as she looked down at the mess below to see Danae laying atop a broken table and several of her mages underneath a large pile of broken tables, "The hell did you do to my tables!?"

"Winning is what happened!" Lev announced happily.

"More like tripping really," Nym added as she poked and prodded a twitching Danae.

"Well now you all get to chip in to replace all of the tables, chairs and mugs you broke! Things like that don't just pop into existance!" Aliah stated, pointing down at the three troublemakers in question.

"Sure they do! Just ask Cressidia or Reene to make you some new ones!" Lev suggested in a rather proud tone.

"We're not using furniture made out of crystal or wax!"

"I guess wax mugs would be nasty to drink out of," Lev said, nodding in agreement with Aliah.

"Crystal could be really fancy though," Nym added.

"Maybe if we lived in an ice palace or something," Aliah muttered, "But we're still not using crystal furniture!"

"I should probably step in now…" Mordekai sighed as he stepped up to rail, "All right everyone! I think Aliah's had enough of furniture shattering antics for one night, so let's all get to work and clean up this mess! Take the broken furniture out back and take Danae to someone that check up on her and make sure nothings broken! After all, we need this area cleared out so we can all enjoy some of Roland's cooking in an hour!"

"Yes sir!" the mages down below shouted happily as they all got to work, running to and fro moving broken wood out of the building and Danae to a healer.

 **. : + : .**

A sense of calm came over the Bittercress schoolhouse as the sun set over the town, coloring everything with a shade of orange as the shadows streched across the ground, the sound of crows cawing echoing throughout the area.

Saria let out a sigh as she put away the last paper on her desk into a folder and tucked it away in a black suitcase, closing the leather case with a satisfying click before brushing a strand of her long, lilac hair out of her face, the light coming in from the window giving her pale skin an orange hue, her deep blue eyes looking up from her desk and over towards the other woman in the room who had been diligently tidying the place up.

"Mya," Saria called out, catching the redhead's attention as she turned to look at Saria, "I've finished my work for the evening. Are you almost ready to leave?"

"Nearly," Mya replied in a quiet tone as she lifted the feather duster in her hand, "I just have to finish dusting this shelf here and I'll be done."

"I'll stay until you finish then," Saria said as Mya turned back around to continue her work. Saria beginning to idly look around the classroom before her eyes were inevitably drawn back to the pale, redheaded woman dusting in the corner as she was by far the most interesting thing in the room to Saria, her vibrant red top catching the sunlight just right to seem a fiery red, much like her short bobcut.

But even though Saria though she was interesting, it didn't mean she had anything to say as she continued to sit in silence, merely waiting for Mya to finish her own work as she began to doze off, jumping back awake when she heard Mya announce that she was finished and ready to leave, Saria slowly standing up in response and brushing out any wrinkles that she saw on the front of her thin black coat before picking up her suitcase.

"Let's leave then," Saria said as the two women began walking towards the door and to the exit after that, the two woman squinting as they turned outside to walk towards the guildhall on the western side of town.

"Dumb sun," Mya muttered before it dipped down below the guildhall and they began walking up the hill towards the stone castle they both called home.

"Thank you for your help today, Mya," Saria eventually said, breaking the silence between the two women, "I don't usually get to leave so early."

"Hm? Oh, it's no problem. I like simple jobs like that," Mya replied, "It's quite peaceful there in the evening."

"You should see it in the daytime then," Saria sighed, "The children are all so rowdy and Klein's son, Terry, asks so many questions."

"He's always been a curious kid," Mya added.

"Right, and he's so proud of his father too. He's always boasting about him to the other children," Saria explained as the two took a turn through a cobblestone alley, the two seeing a few children run past as they emerged on the other side.

"Hiya Miss Ria!" several of them called out as they darted past the two woman, Saria calling 'Hello' back to them.

"If only every day could be as peaceful as today is," Mya said sullenly.

"If only the world could be as peaceful as this town," Saria added before looking over at Mya, "But I'm sure if anyone can make it so, it's your sister."

"Do you really think Aliah can do that? Can anyone?" Mya questioned as the two resumed walking.

"If anyone can, it is Aliah that can do it, I'm sure of it. She saved me, so I'm sure she can do anything she sets her mind to," Saria stated, an unusual sense of confidence rolling off of her.

"Mom could… if she was alive," Mya muttered, "She could do anything."

"I know… She was a wonderful woman," Saria said as they neared the guildhall, "But we should stop speaking of such sad topics, Aliah will give us both an earful if we go into the guildhall with frowns on our faces."

"Right. She has too much to worry about right now anyways," Mya replied as she tried to put a smile onto her face, a small one appearing on Saria's as she watched her friend try to act strong even as she looked down to fidget her bandage-wrapped hands, the other woman letting out a hiss of pain as a part of her bandages began to turn a blood red.

"Your arms are okay, right?" Saria asked as she looked on with concern, the two women stopping in their tracks.

"Yeah… I had to run support for a combat mission last week and I ended up having to fight," Mya explained, "This is just what usually happens is all."

"I suppose we're still really short-handed if Aliah is desperate enough to send you out as support for combat even though you're a Curator, even when it's not Blood Moon," Saria said as she watched Mya grip her bleeding hand to try and put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding.

"We all have to chip in for Blood Moon anyways… one or two combat missions in between won't kill me," Mya mumbled, "And besides… fighting is all my magic is good for."

"You hate fighting though."

"I do… It hurts to fight and I feel sick when I see injured people bleeding out on the ground," Mya admitted, "But you hate it too, right?"

"Yes, but I will fight if it's necessary and if Aliah asks me to," Saria explained, "Beyond that though, I refuse to fight."

"We're in the same boat then," Mya sighed before letting go of her hand, "I feel steady enough to walk again now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, let's go back home now, I need to eat something," Mya stated before the two began to walk again, the pair approaching the outer walls of the guildhall.

 **. : + : .**

 **August 21st, X847**

"Aaugh!" Lev grunted as he got sent flying backwards, his large, steel greatsword flying from his hands before he landed hard on his back, the mud staining his black clothes brown.

"C'mon kiddo! You gotta be able to do better than that if you want to keep up with Titus!" a middle-aged man called out as Lev tried to pick himself up off the ground.

"Easier said than done, you old cook!" Lev shouted back, "You know I'm not quick with this sword!"

"Then make yourself go faster!" the man replied, "Cause Titus sure as hell ain't gonna wait on ya to get up!"

As he said that, the man he spoke of began to run towards Lev, a silver longsword in his left hand, raised and ready to srike as the wind blew his hair back, the mud beneath him splashing up onto his boots and black pants.

"Shit!" Lev cursed as he scrambled to grab his blade and raise it above him in time to block Titus's blow, "Y'know Klein, I'm certain the only reason you're making me spar against Titus is because Aliah's still pissed about those tables!"

"Aw, she'd never be so petty!" Klein laughed, "But really, that's totally why I get to see you get your ass whooped today."

"Focus more on the match, Lev," Titus said as he lifted his right arm, a smaller blade appearing in his hand before slashing it down towards Lev, forcing him to roll away and break the lock.

"C'mon Klein! Give me hand! Let me use a different weapon!" Lev pleaded after scrambling to his feet.

"Well you see… I'd give you a hand, but I only have the one!" Klein laughed as he brushed away the dark brown cloak he was wearing to reveal his missing left arm.

"Ugh…" both of the younger men groaned while Klein continued to laugh at his own joke, despite having told it a hundred times since losing his arm.

"I feel bad for Terry…" Lev mumbled.

"I suppose I should be happy my father doesn't have such a bad sense of humor…" Titus added as Klein began to calm down.

"What? You guys don't see my 'point'?" Klein asked as he made air quotes with his hand, the man eagerly waiting for a reaction, looking down between them and their swords.

"Maybe if we ignore him, he'll stop making dad jokes…" Titus wondered aloud.

"I don't think it works that way," Lev sighed as Klein continued looking between them, Titus shaking his head before deciding to just ignore the man and charge Lev again, slashing his swords down at him, startling the younger man and forcing him to act quickly to defend himself with his own blade, "Hey! Warn me next time!" he shouted.

"You won't get such a luxury on the battlefield! Why should you get it here?" Titus shouted before pulling his blades away from Lev's and quickly following up with a flurry of slashes from both swords, Lev struggling to keep up with the older mage's speed until he managed to jump backwards and wind up a hard, horizontal slash.

"Lucent Mirror!" Titus exclaimed as his smaller sword disappeared, only to be replaced by a beautiful, round shield made out of a reflective metal just in time to take the blow from Lev's greatsword, the hit sending Titus sliding across the ground, though he managed to stay on his feet.

"Good work with that hit, Lev!" Klein called out, "Sometimes as a heavier and slower swordsman, you've gotta make up for the speed difference between you and your opponent and make the opportunity to launch a counter attack yourself."

"Well, Titus sure as hell ain't gonna let up for a moment. Not when he's been trained by that old man of his all his life," Lev stated as he took up his fighting stance again as Titus raised his shield and lowered himself behind it, his sword pointing towards Lev.

"And that's a good thing to do as well, using your knowledge of your opponent against them to help determine a strategy," Klein explained, "But that applies to all fights, not just when using a sword of course."

"We'll have to do that someday won't we?" Lev suddenly asked.

"Do what?" Klein replied.

"Use our knowledge of our enemy against them. You know, everyone that left the guild to join Knights Harrowing," Lev explained.

"Of course we will," Titus quickly answered, "As a free legal guild, and one that is so closely connected to Knights Harrowing, the government will expect us to respond to and deal with anything they try to do and as Guardians and Hunters of Lucent Knights, it is our responsibility to combat the threat any dark mage poses to society, no matter who they are."

"Spot on that answer," Klein stated, "Course that doesn't mean we have to like it. Lots of those guys are still our friends that we've all known for years. It's just that they've got a different way of responding to how the world's changing all around us and that's put us on opposite sides of the fight."

"Right… Well, I certainly don't like it," Lev said as he looked to Klein.

"And no one said you had to either," he replied, "But there's a lot going on in the world that just no one understands or knows the answer to, so just try and keep an open mind about everything, y'hear?"

"I hear you," Lev answered.

"That goes for you too, hotshot," Klein said as he looked to Titus.

"I'll try to," the blond man responded curtly.

"Good. Now why don't we call it a day on the training? Aliah should be satisfied with the amount of ass whooping Lev got, don'tcha think?" Klein asked as a grin appeared on his face as he lifted his hand up to his stubble covered chin, framing it with his fingers.

"Agreed," Titus said as his weapons disappeared back into their requip space.

"I didn't get my ass whooped!" Lev protested.

"If you're so fired up then, why don't you go against Titus when he's actually using his magic this time?" Klein suggested.

"I think it'd be more impressive to watch him try to go up against you, Klein," Titus added.

"Er… I think I'll pass on both of those piece of shit ideas, thank you," Lev muttered.

"That's what I thought!" Klein said before letting out a loud laugh, "You're good kid, but you've got a ways to go before you're ready to go up against an A-Class, let alone one trained by old Mordekai!"

"Yeah yeah. I'll knock you both down a peg or two one of these days, just wait for it," Lev stated as his sword vanished into a dark blue leather pouch on his waist.

"I'll be waiting for it. Now whaddaya say we all go get us some breakfast? I'm sure Karin would love to have ya over for a nice hot meal!" Klein said happily, throwing his arm around Titus' neck and pulling him into a headlock as Lev walked up to his other side.

"You know I'm up for it, especially if she puts on a couple pots of coffee for me," Lev replied in an almost giddy manner at the thought of coffee.

"I suppose a homecooked meal would be a good thing to have after training," Titus said, relenting to being pulled along by the older man.

"That's the spirit!" Klein exclaimed, letting go of Titus' head and giving him a hard pat on the back as the trio began walking out of the rear courtyard and towards the front gate of the guildhall.

* * *

 **A/N:** And there it is! Chapter 1! I hope you enjoyed it!

Credits:

Lev Volkov – MyDearWatson

Tarnym "Nym" Cirrus – Tsuyurin

Danae Blueport – Condor-K

Saria Tamura – DiskyFrisbee

Maryam "Mya" Merle – Dreadburner94

Klein Cavish – Mary Allen

Titus Norwood – Dreadburner94

The first scene there was more to show that this story can still be lighthearted at times than it was to introduce characters, so Tarnym and Danae will definitely get a more thorough intro in a future chapter since there wasn't much there for them. But anyways, I hope that I portrayed the characters introduced in this chapter well, let me know if I can improve in some way in regards to writing your characters.

Also, at this time, submissions and reservations are closed. I went over my limit by a couple already, but I was still rather surprised by how quickly the spaces filled up.

Reviews

MyDearWatson – Yep, turmoil is all around in this story. You can hardly go three steps without finding something wrong with the world in this setting. But there are plans for Aliah's father being made, as well as for Mya's father. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed how I wrote Lev this chapter.

Origm2012 – Glad to be back. It took me a while to get this story set up, but I really like the world I've created with this one.

Mary Allen – I hope it's unique. I spent weeks figuring it out. But I hope you enjoy the story.

Harukawa Ayame – Yeah, I don't think I've seen too many dark settings for SYOCs. But I really wanted a unique setting and one that I would have plenty to do with, so I hope it turned out good.

TheMagiSpirit – I responded to your review in a PM. I hope you enjoy the story.

Lightningpanda – Well, I'm glad to hear that you think so. I hope you enjoy the story.

potentialauthor18 – Yeah, Mordekai's supposed to be a sort of wise, older guide for Aliah. Someone who she's able to constantly look to for guidance to make up for her inexperience and help her navigate the minefield that is guild politics in the story's setting. But hopefully the story will go someplace very interesting. Hope you enjoy it.

Meteorthunder3 – Yeah, I wanted to leave it pretty open ended and leave you all guessing about a lot of things. Course I expanded on one of the things this chapter, but that might've left some of you with more questions. Anyways, hope you enjoy the story.

And with that, the A/N is finished and I'm gonna go unwind with some Overwatch. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.

Your host,

Dreadburner94.


	3. Welcome to the Family

**A/N:** Sorry about the wait for this one. Work's been busy and my computer had a pretty big problem for a little while, but it's fixed now and I've recovered what I lost. But anyways, here's chapter 2!

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Welcome to the Family**

 **August 21** **st** **, X847**

"C'mon! Fall back! The minister's lackies are too strong! Don't you know who they are!" a dark mage shouted to his comrades who were, as he thought, recklessly charging towards their deaths.

"Stop being such a coward! There's only two of them! Just like was said!" one of them called back.

"They also said that they're veterans of Lucent Knights, you idiot! This is a job for Knights Harrowing!" the first mage screamed before he saw a large group of his friends get launched into the air by a deceptively scrawny looking man who had a skinny and wiry frame for the strength he was displaying.

"Shit! It really is Austin Redding!" a dark mage exclaimed in shock.

"Did you all think intel was lying or something!? Why would they lie about an S-Class coming our way!?" the first mage yelled back before a panicked look crossed his face as he started looking around, "But where's the other one?"

"Were you perhaps referring to me? The great Vistoso, Alessandro Blackstone! The greatest illusionist Fiore has ever seen!" a man's voice announced in a grandiose fashion before the man himself suddenly appeared in front of the dark mage wearing a fancy magician's outfit, complete with a cape, a top hat and a cane with a golden knob atop it.

"Now, my boy…" Alessandro began as he extended his hand forward before a deck of cards appeared in it, "Pick a card… Any card!" he insisted as the deck of cards was spread out in his hands, the dark mage making an audibly nervous gulp before grabbing one, "An excellent choice, the Nine of Hearts!"

"Wh-what did I choose?" the dark mage asked before a door appeared behind him in a puff of smoke.

"Why, how we'll make our escape while my good friend finishes his work of course!" Alessandro answered before the door swung open and he shoved the dark mage through it before stepping through himself, the two of them disappearing from the battlefield before the door slammed shut and vanished.

"Took him long enough," Austin grumbled before turning his attention back to the dark mages in front of him, "Bout ten of them left, huh? Should be easy since these guys are just fodder."

"You damn dog of the state!" one of the remaining dark mages screamed, "Just wait till the boss gets back!"

"Yeah! He'll kick your ass to Bittercress and back!"

"Even he did make it back in time, he'd never find this place while we're still here. But I should stop wasting my breath on you damn traitors," Austin stated before taking off towards the mages at an incredibly fast speed, the force from the first punch he threw sending four of the dark mages crashing through a nearby stone wall before he quickly spun around towards the right and sent another flying with a backhanded blow to the face. By then the remaining five dark mages had begun to react to the ferocity of Austin's attacks and had managed to spread out, two of them drawing melee weapons while the other three were beginning to activate their magic, their hands glowing with magic power.

"Blast him!" one of the dark mages shouted before three different spells were fired off towards Austin, exploding on contact, the S-Class quickly emerging from the smoke unscathed in a roll before the other two dark mages closed in on him, weapons raised up and ready to come down on him.

"Leech," Austin muttered as he reached up and caught the two dark mage's arms and held them there until the two dark mages grew too weak to hold their weapons and dropped them before their legs collapsed as well, unable to carry their own weight, Austin releasing them and letting them fall on the ground before turning to look at his remaining three opponents.

"Dammit!" one of the dark mages yelled hysterically, "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" he screamed as his hands lit up with magic power before shooting off several blasts towards Austin in a panic, several of them connecting with him and filling the area with smoke again as an eerie quiet fell over the area.

"D-Did he get him?" one of them asked.

"Well now he didn't cause you asked that stupid question," the third dark mage spat out as the smoke started to clear enough to reveal Austin's silhouette still standing in the same place he was before and eventually showing that the S-Class was still unscathed after the smoke had completely cleared.

"Dammit…" the hopeful dark mage cursed as Austin let out a sigh before lifting his arms into the air, his fists clenched tightly before swinging them back down, shattering the earth all around him and sending the dark mages flying into the air before he leapt up out of the crater he had created to pursue them, grabbing the first one he reached by the feet and throwing him towards the dark mage that was the farthest from Austin, sending both flying into the ground before Austin and the final dark mage landed on the ground, Austin quickly marching over towards him before he could scramble back to his feet, Austin reaching down to grab him by the back of his head before he could get away.

"Please spare me!" the dark mage pleaded.

"Spare you?" Austin repeated as he held the dark mage in place.

"Yes! Please! I'll do anything! Tell you anything you want! I swear! Just don't kill me!" the dark mage continued to beg, tears started to well up in his eyes and stream down his face.

"Hrngh… Making things difficult on me… I should slam you into the ground just for that, but you're lucky that information is what we came here for," Austin stated as he released his grip on the back of the dark mage's head and instead grabbed the back of his shirt before beginning to drag him away.

"Wh-where are you taking me!?" the dark mage asked in a panicked voice.

"Where am I taking you? With me… isn't that obvious?" Austin answered, not wasting any more words on the sniveling man he was dragging behind him despite his incessant questions.

They continued on for about ten minutes that way, Austin, dragging him through the woods of western Fiore until they reached a clearing. Once there, they saw what most would've considered to be a rather peculiar sight as Alessandro had a dark mage hanging over a pit of savage, bloodthirsty, red-eyed rabbits via rope made of colorful cloths that had been individually tied together by knots.

"You're crazy! Crazy! Every damn rumor about you being a goddamn madman is true! You know that!?" the hanging dark mage screamed in terror as a rabbit leaped up and bit onto his foot after Alessandro had lowered him a small bit.

"Now now… Keep up talk like that and my grip is likely to slip," Alessandro stated in a creepily cheerful tone.

"Alessandro," Austin called out, causing the extravagant man to turn his head towards his partner.

"Ah! Austin! My buon amico! Done so soon? I hope you gave them a truly magnifico performance as usual. I see that you've brought us a new friend! One that will prove more cooperative than this one I hope?" Alessandro said happily as he let go of the rope with one of his hands, causing the hanging dark mage to drop lower as more rabbits clamped onto his feet.

"Pull me up! Pull me up you damned madman! Pull me up before I get eaten alive!" the dark mage screamed.

"Oh-ho… But what's in it for me, signore?" Alessandro asked as he lowered the mage a bit more, a rather dark and cold look crossing his face as he stroked his mustache, "I don't exactly need you anymore now that Austin has brought me a new friend to answer my questions. After all, you'll answer all my questions, won't you my buon amico?" he asked as he turned towards the dark mage Austin had brought with him, the man nodding from his spot on the ground, "You see my vecchio amico? I do not need you anymore except to feed the rabbits unless you give me… how should I say… incentive to spare your life."

"Wh-what sort of incentive do you want then!? Hurry and tell me!" the hanging dark mage begged.

"Why soldi of course! Money! Gold! Ricchezza! That beautiful thing that makes the world go 'round!" Alessandro answered cheerfully and extravagantly, "Though I'd also appreciate some vini pregiati. Fine wine, that is."

"You're one twisted old man… Fine! I'll show you where our jewel cache is! Just get me down from here!" the dark mage offered.

"Ah! It's like bella musica to my ears! But, for now, signore, you can stay there until we finish getting our answers from your amico, bene?" Alessandro said as he pulled the dark mage up and shook the rabbits off of him, the hanging dark mage cursing and swearing at him as he hung there.

"No need to torture me!" the other dark mage announced from the ground, "I'll spill my guts without it, all right?"

"Good… Alessandro takes too long with his games," Austin huffed.

"Ah, but they are such buon divertimento! You really should try them sometime, signore," Alessandro suggested.

"Let's just get this over with already so I can go back."

"Very well, my buon amico. I do have incentive to collet after all."

 **. : + : .**

 **August 22** **nd** **, X847**

The sun rose over Bittercress, the busy people of town just starting to wake up for their day, but one young girl was already eagerly running through the streets of the town, unable to stay in bed any longer due to the excitement she was feeling. Today was the day she finally moved into a new life and leave her old one behind. Today would be the day she joined Lucent Knights.

Suddenly, the girl felt a shift on her as an orange squirrel with large ears and black stripes down it's body emerged from her shirt and settled on her shoulders, wrapping around the back of her neck. She gave it a fond look before patting the yawning creature on the head.

"I suppose you're pretty tired, huh?" she asked as she stroked its fur while keeping her pace, "You foxsquirrels aren't too fond of the morning are ya?" she asked as the foxsquirrel began to purr in a contented manner, "Well, you just rest up then, I gotta get to the guild!" she exclaimed excitedly as she continued running westward towards the guild, cutting through alleys and taking the shortest paths she saw.

Soon though, she found herself standing in front of the outer wall of Lucent Knight's guildhall, a large metal gate blocking her path as it hadn't been raised yet.

"Well… I guess it is really early. Maybe they're still asleep?" she questioned aloud, "Hello! Is anyone home!? Or is anyone awake in there!?" she called out towards the guildhall to no avail. The girl tried to call out a few more times before deciding to sit and wait while staring at the large wooden doors beyond the metal gate, which she assumed led into the guildhall proper. Though she would only be waiting a few more minutes until the large doors creaked open to reveal an older man with gray hair and a short gray beard wearing a simple white tunic and tan pants tucked into a pair of brown boots.

"Oh! Hello there! Are you a member of this guild!?" the girl quickly asked as she shot up from her squatted position in front of the gate.

"Indeed I am," the man answered back, "My name is Mordekai Norwood, who are you?" Mordekai asked as he stepped towards the gate.

"Oh! I'm Rachel! Rachel Padraigh! I wanna join your guild!" she announced eagerly.

"Do you now? Well, just give me a moment to open the gate then," Mordekai requested as he stepped out of Rachel's view, the young girl hearing a loud creaking noise before the gate started to lift up into the stone wall and Mordekai came back into view, "Please, come inside," he said, gesturing to the wooden doors into the guildhall, the two of them stepping inside, Rachel having a happy bounce to her step and gasping in awe as she finally laid eyes on the inside of Lucent Knight's guildhall, despite its rustic appearance and lack of tables.

The area she had stepped into was the main pub, which had the remaining tables and chair lined up throughout the area while a bar and kitchen were cornered off in the back right area by a wooden half wall and stone pillars while banners with Lucent Knight's symbol hung from the ceiling up above the balcony area that lined the second floor. It was simple from her first glance, but she could tell that a lot of history had happened in this room.

"It's so cool. Like something out of a fairy tale," she gasped.

"You'll get the grand tour later, don't worry," Mordekai stated, but we have business to conclude first."

"Right! I need to join the guild! A-are you the guild master, sir?" Rachel asked as she turned her attention back to the older man, eliciting a small laugh from Mordekai.

"No, no. That honor belongs to my niece, Aliah Merle. I am the Guild Coordinator, her second-in-command and leader of the four Divisions' Guild Leaders."

"Guild Coordinator? Guild Leaders? What are those?" Rachel asked, obviously unfamiliar with the concepts.

"The Guild Coordinator and Guild Leader positions are unique to our guild, Lucent Knights. They come from the guild's golden years when it was much bigger than it is now," Mordekai began to explain, "Our guild runs on a system of Divisions, you see."

"Yes! The Guardians, the Hunters, the Seekers and the Curators! I've heard of them!" Rachel declared excitedly.

"Right, those are our four Divisions, but leading them are the four Guild Leaders while each Division is made of mages of different ranks from D to S while leading the Guild Leaders is the Guild Coordinator. It was a system that allowed all internal politics and issues to be handled smoothly and without complications, allowing the Guild Master to focus on the more important tasks, as well as on external guild politics," Mordekai continued in his explanation, happy to see Rachel eagerly nodding along as he spoke, soaking up every word he said.

"Not that it's really necessary nowadays," they heard a tired voice say from up above, the two of them seeing a woman with messy, dark red hair and wearing only an overly long shirt floating down towards them with magical energy sparkling around her legs, "We only have like thirty members now," she added before landing on the ground next to them, looking between the two with a tired squint, "I must be really tired because I could swear I see someone I don't recognize in the guildhall that's not some government flunky here to bother us.

"Ah, Aliah. We have a young mage wanting to join us. Perhaps you should make yourself a bit more presentable before we begin," Mordekai suggested.

"A new member?" Aliah questioned before looking down a Rachel before realization dawned on her and a heavy blush came over her face, "Shit! I'll be right back!" she cursed before running back into a hallway and presumably up a flight of stairs as they heard her trip and curse loudly.

"Ah… The Guild Master will be with you shortly," Mordekai sighed before realizing that Rachel was laughing.

"It seems like such a fun place already! And I've only met two of you! I knew I made the right decision to come here!"

Mordekai looked down and smiled at the young girl, unwilling to say anything that might squelch that spark of happiness he saw in her. Soon though, Aliah reemerged from upstairs, looking down at them from the balcony wearing her typical red and black, gold-trimmed shirt while her hair was tied into a loose, low ponytail.

"Mordekai, bring her up into my office so we can start," she ordered, trying to convey herself with seriousness and authority despite her earlier appearance.

"Follow me," Mordekai said, looking down at Rachel before walking towards the hallway that Aliah had ran to earlier and led her up a flight of stairs to the right, leading her up to the balcony that Aliah was on, though the woman had already left that spot, presumably to go to her office where Mordekai was leading Rachel to. The two of them walked down the hall a short way before they came to a door on their left, which Mordekai opened.

"Please step inside and have a seat in front of the desk," he said, Rachel stepping inside to see Aliah sitting behind a large, wooden desk that looked to be of an incredibly high quality of woodwork while on the walls were pictures of several people, who Rachel assumed to be past Guild Masters while behind Aliah, on the wall, was a picture of a red-headed woman who appeared similar to Aliah, but not quite as her skin was a lighter shade and her eyes were blue in color as opposed to Aliah's dark tan and golden eyes.

"That would be my mother," Aliah stated after noticing how Rachel's gaze had lingered on the picture behind her, "As well as Mordekai's sister. She was Guild Master before me, back when the Blood Moon first started. Her name was Alesia Norwood Merle. Our greatest Guild Master in recent history. We've only survived this long because of her."

"She's very beautiful," Rachel stated.

"That's kind of you. Honestly my sister resembles her more than I do though," Aliah stated, "But we're not here to discuss my mother. We're here to discuss your joining Lucent Knights, aren't we?" Aliah said as she slid a flat, metal object towards Rachel before it lit up and displayed a holographic interface in front of her and Aliah, eliciting an impressed 'ooh' noise from the young girl, "Now, what's your name and birth date?"

"Rachel Padraigh, some call me Ratsie though. Uh… my birth date is…" Rachel began.

"Oh, don't worry about saying it out loud. Just type it into the interface there. Like this," Aliah explained as she demonstrated how to use the device.

"That is really cool, y'know," Rachel admitted as she set to filling out the various questions.

"One of our mages made it actually. She also made the mission interface station out in the pub area too," Aliah explained.

"Is she a Curator?" Rachel asked.

"A Guardian actually. Though she'd make a really good Curator if she ever decided to switch," Aliah added onto the end, "Though I'd kinda like her to stay as a Guardian cause she's good at that too."

"What Division were you in? Before you became Guild Master that is," Rachel asked, looking up towards Aliah and away from the display.

"I was an S-Class Hunter actually. I wanted to fight the Blood Moon and protect everyone. I remember what it was like back before it started… And I'll never forget that first night…" Aliah stated, looking off to the side as a solemn look crossed her face.

"What was it like back then? Before the Blood Moon? I was born after they started so it's all I know," Rachel admitted.

"How old are you?" Aliah asked before looking down at the display, "Fourteen by only two days huh? Damn… You're half my age kid. And now I feel old," Aliah sighed, eliciting more laughter from Rachel, "Anyways, things were… a lot more peaceful. There were more people, more guilds, more mages… more happiness too. But Fiore was still a neutral monarchy, the revolution was beginning to brew when I was kid though, the Blood Moon just made it happen is all. I wanted to change all that by becoming a Hunter and killing all of the damn monsters myself. Shows what I knew."

The two fell into silence after that, Rachel figuring that was enough questions about things unrelated to the form in front of her for now, though in a matter of minutes, she soon reached the end.

"So then, Rachel, what Division do you want to become a part of? The Guardians, the shields of the people. The Hunters, the blades of the people. The Seekers, their eyes. Or, the Curators, the hands," Aliah asked before speaking back up, "Feel free to ask any questions you have before making your decision."

"Umm… I don't think I have any questions. I think I had settled on the Division I wanted to join on my way here," Rachel stated, "I want to join the Guardians."

"That's a dangerous Division you know?" Aliah warned, "They're our first line of defense during the Blood Moon and the next one is only a week away from today."

"I know, but I want to protect people! I want to protect them and their happiness!" Rachel declared, the determination welling up within her plainly obvious to Aliah.

"Very well. You'll be joining Lucent Knights as a D-Class Guardian! Your Guild Leader is Genevio Norwald and your S-Class is Austin Redding! They will be your direct superiors until that has changed. If they are not available you report to Mordekai Norwood and myself," Aliah proclaimed before standing up from her desk and pulling down a magic stamp, "Where would you like your guild mark and in what color?"

"Here, on my forearm in gray, like my hair please, "Rachel answered as she pointed to a spot on her left arm, Aliah pressing the stamp against her and leaving behind a gray, Lucent Knights guild mark.

"Now please come with me," Aliah requested as she led Rachel out of her office and back out onto the balcony, where Rachel saw, down in the pup area, all of the present members of Lucent Knights standing, waiting for her with Mordekai, who Rachel could only guess had pulled each and every member out of bed to gather here while she was with Aliah.

"Rachel Padraigh!" Aliah called out from beside her, loud enough for everyone down below to hear, "Welcome to one of the last bastions of the free mage! Things will no doubt be hard and difficult! You may even want to quit at times, but know this! We here at Lucent Knights are your family! And we will always stand by you so long as you stand by us! Welcome to Lucent Knights! Your new family!" she announced, the guild letting out a chorus of welcomes and several cheers, all welcoming her to the guild.

 **. : + : .**

A lone figure walked through the wilderness of western Fiore, a black, tattered cloak covering their figure as they passed by the trees. A tan hand that bore a black, Lucent Knights guild mark reached up to grab the edge of the hood and pull it forward as the figure reached the edge of a cliff that looked down into a valley below, a charred ruin of ash and debris, and most certainly the remains of unfortunate nearby wildlife.

"This is where it all began," the figure whispered softly in a decidedly feminine sounding voice, "The Blood Moon… Will this be where it begins again? Why return here after eighteen years?"

Though her thoughts were soon cut off by an unnatural roar that sounded like a howl of pain.

"Shit… Remnants from last month? Or is it…" the figure muttered before standing back up and turning away from the cliff and running off in a different direction, her cloak billowing behind her, revealing a completely bandaged left arm and unshrouding her face and her fierce red eyes, dead set on the task in front of her, escape.

* * *

 **A/N:** And there it is! Chapter 2! Like I said earlier, sorry for the wait. Work's been busy and my laptop's had problems, but I've managed to fix those problems and decided to write this chapter up now that my computer is in remarkably better condition than what it's been in.

Credits:

Austin Redding – dragvil1996

Alessandro Blackstone – Piece of Sheet

Rachel Padraigh – Torsa

Anyways! MyDearWatson will be matching my chapter with a chapter of one of her own stories from here on out and I will be matching hers with a chapter of this! That way we both have a bit more motivation to write and get things done.

Reviews

MyDearWatson – I have no idea who those people are, because I haven't watched Voltron, but I'll take it as a compliment. But yeah, expect plenty of dad jokes from Klein, cause I will be abusing my creative authority to makes puns with him whenever the opportunity arises. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Harukawa Ayame – Yeah, this story'll have lots of dark stuff. Dark stuff'll be everywhere. So I gotta put in the lighthearted moments when I can cause even this chapter had some depressing stuff in it with how I wrote Aliah. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Meteorthunder3 – Yeah, Titus is somewhat of the guild's poster boy, but given that he's Mordekai's son, why wouldn't he be? Well, I know some reasons why not, but I haven't hinted towards that yet. And I've been playing a lot of Reinhardt lately. But I usually play as , Sombra or Lucio, sometimes Mercy when on defense. Moira seems like she could be fun though.

Origm2012 – And now you get a little bit more of Knights Harrowing! Not much more than a mere mention, but I do wonder what Austin and Alessandro wanted from a group affiliated with Harrowing? Hmmm… Curious ain't it?

Mary Allen – Glad you enjoyed my portrayal of Klein. He's super fun to write cause I do enjoy myself a good pun. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Condor-K – Yeah, the setting and backstory for this story is definitely my favorite and a lot of work has gone into setting this one up. It's dark, it's got lots of potential for deep subplots and I've generally gotten a lot of good and fun to write characters. And yeah, Roland almost made it into the last chapter, but I had to cut him out beyond a mere mention, but hey, he was technically in this chapter since he would've been there for the welcoming.

Piece of Sheet – Yeah, thankfully those are the only three that have that kind of name and typically only Saria's students call her Ria, so it shouldn't be too confusing. But yeah, I'm trying real hard to set up all sorts of little connections between different characters. I even have a list going that I'm working on that says who's connected to who and how. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and how Alessandro was portrayed.

Tsuyurin – Yeah, Nym added a good bit of cheekiness to that scene. Really helped me set up that lighthearted bit. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

LexGem – Yeah, the thing about Aliah, is that she is extremely stressed. She has all sorts of problems that she's just bottling up and doesn't let. There are reasons for it in her head, but it's certainly not healthy for her at all. She's probably one of my more internally conflicted characters that I've made. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

And with that, this A/N's finished! So I'm gonna go make me some gnocchi and chill some. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

Your host,

Dreadburner94.


	4. The Woman with the Red Eyes

**A/N:** Hoo-boy. I must've offended some sort of higher power to keep having the same problem with my computer over and over again, but it's nothing that's not fixable so long as I don't lose my handy dandy back-up drive and OneDrive doesn't conk out on me. But anyways, chapter 3 is ready!

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The Woman with the Red Eyes**

 **August 22** **nd** **, X847**

Rachel found herself in the main bar area of the guildhall, staring up at a rather large and muscular man, who would have been rather imposing had it not been for the overly friendly smile on his face as he looked down at her, even as the overhead lights put a noticeable shine on his bald head.

"Rachel, this is Genevio Norwald, your Guild Leader," Aliah said in introduction, looking down at the young girl.

"Oh! I… uh… It's good to meet you sir! I hope I won't be a bother!" Rachel squeaked out, clearly just a bit intimidated by Gene's large and muscular frame.

"Gahahaha!" Gene suddenly laughed loudly, "Don't worry young one! You won't be a bother at all! To any Guardian of Lucent Knights! We all look out for each other here and as our newest member, we'll be sure to train you up nice and strong!"

"Eh?" Rachel gawked as images of herself being just as large and muscular as the man in front of her popped into her head.

"And we'll be sure to make certain that you get good mission experience under your belt before the Blood Moon as well! Perhaps we'll start with something simple! Like clearing out a den of thirty bandits!" Gene continued happily.

"How about we let Kai's system decide what's best for her to start with, Gene?" Aliah suggested, the Guild Leader quickly turning his head to face her, "You tend to go a bit… overboard and we don't want to get her hurt on her first mission after all."

"Right! Of course! We shall work up to the thirty bandits!" Gene added loudly, "It is no easy feat for a new mage, I forget that sometimes."

"Working up to it sounds like it could be fun," Rachel said, "It'll show how good I've gotten since I don't think there's any way I could do that now."

"That's the spirit, young one! We shall train and train! And one day, you will become as mighty as I am!" Gene announced before flexing, showing off the large, rippling muscles on his arms and back.

"Yeah!" Rachel cheered alongside her Guild Leader, images of her being as large and muscular as him once again flooding her mind.

"Well, before you two go and get carried away, how 'bout I go and introduce Rachel to Kai so she can show her the ropes?" Aliah suggested, the two Guardians turning to look at her again.

"Kai?" Rachel questioned.

"Ah yes! An excellent suggestion my Guild Master! That way we can get my new young friend started right away! Come, my friend! Come! The workshop is this way!" Gene said happily, gesturing for Rachel to follow him, Aliah tagging along, as the three walked back into the hallway, but rather than immediately turning to go up the stairs, the trio walked further into the guild than Rachel had previously been. Rachel took note of a few different descending stairways, but also four different doors that had names on them such as 'Seeker Salem Ashbark' and 'Guardian Genevio Norwald'.

"Are those offices?" Rachel asked as they walked past another that read 'Curator Frederigo Mele'.

"Ah, yes. These are the Guild Leader Offices, though the only one you'll find regularly using it is Salem and Frederigo… Gene…" Aliah explained, saying Gene's name with a hint of annoyance at the end.

"Ah, but the training ground is where I can always be found when I am here! That or having a drink with my friends inside!" Gene added, not at all perturbed by Aliah.

"Frederigo can usually be found in the infirmary though since he's really the guild's only dedicated healer and doctor," Aliah continued, "Good luck finding Kane though, where you can find him seems to depend on his mood and the time of day. At least I could never find him when I was a Hunter."

"Ah, but some evenings he is more than happy to come and test his strength against mine!" Gene stated, "We are rivals, he and I! And as the leaders of the Guardians and the Hunters, we must settle who is truly the strongest between us!" he declared as the trio reached the end of the hallway, which lead to a door that lead outside.

"The workshop is that building over there," Aliah said as she pointed to a stone building built into the stone wall that lined the edge of the cliff that overlooked the sea, "C'mon," she said as she lead the trio closer, sounds of someone hard at work becoming evident, as well as a good bit of cursing.

"Gah! This fucking thing! Just fucking go into place already you little shit! Stop being such a little bitch already, you fuck!" they heard a woman loudly curse as they arrived just outside of the door to the workshop.

"Just know… she doesn't mean anything by all the cursing," Aliah warned before opening the door, the smell of cigarette smoke and oil making itself evident as she lead the three inside, revealing a large, oily mess of machine parts, half-finished projects and various other bits of scrap inside, "Hey Kai! Get the hell out here!" Aliah called out.

"Fuck!" they heard a woman shout from deeper after a loud bang, "The fuck do you want, Aliah!? I'm in the middle of fixing this damn thing, can't it fucking wait!?"

"Not a damn moment!" Aliah shouted back, "It's important!"

"Argh! Fucking fine!" the woman yelled, "But it better be damn important!" she grumbled before she finally became visible by the three after stepping out from behind a large machine, covered in splotches of oil from head to toe.

"Who the fuck is this?" Kai asked as she pulled her coral pink goggles off her face and set them atop her head of short, blond and pink hair.

"Did you really skip that meeting?" Aliah asked.

"Did you really think I was gonna let ol' Mordekai pull me away from my work?"

"Fair point," Aliah sighed, "This is Rachel Padraigh, a new member and Guardian."

"It's nice to meet you," the young girl said politely, nodding towards the older woman.

"A fucking kid? No wonder it's important. She'll get herself killed if I don't beat some sense into her," Kai sighed as walked up to Rachel and roughly grabbed her by the wrist and started dragging her along, "Come on already," she said roughly.

"Eh? W-wait… Beat?" Rachel repeated, an obviously nervous look on her face.

"Ah! Do not worry, my young friend! She will take good care of you!" Gene called out after them.

"She's not as mean as she acts! She's an A-Class, so she's gotta act like it somehow!" Aliah added as Kai continued to drag Rachel behind her.

 **. : + : .**

A figure ran through the woods of Fiore, panting and heaving as they chased after their partner, as they had come quite the distance so far.

"Keep going Volug! We've almost found her!" the man shouted ahead of him as he tried to keep up with the four-legged figure running several feet in front of him, "Five days of running around in the woods and this is the closest we've come to finding her! C'mon keep going!" he continued to yell as he dodged and weaved past trees and bushes, hopping over stones and nearly tripping over roots as he ran.

"Shane!" he heard a female voice call out as a raven broke through the treetops before transforming into a woman with short, wavy black hair that began running beside him.

"The fuck is it now?" Shane rudely asked as he kept running, "We're almost there!"

"Listen asshole! I came down here to give you a warning!" Branna quickly bit back, not having any patience for Shane's innate rudeness.

"So what is it?" he asked again before the two of them split up to run around a large tree in their way.

"Demon Beasts! Lots of them!" Branna shouted from around the tree, "We've got to stop and take this slow or we'll be found!"

"Fucking hell!" Shane cursed loudly before bringing one of his heavily tattooed arms up to his mouth and whistling loudly through his hand. As soon as the two of them joined back up after running around the tree, a large wolf quickly came bounding back before stopping in front of Shane, "Hey there, Volug," he said as he reached down to pat the dire wolf in front of him, "We've got to take it slow now. There's Demon Beasts up ahead," he stated, the wolf happily barking in return, showing its understanding, "Now, how the fuck do we deal with Demon Beasts? Any idea what kinds?"

"I know I saw at least two Barghests and a few Shamblers not far up ahead, further in, off to the east, there's a lot more," Branna explained, "They're not the problem though…"

"Let me guess, there's a fucking Shade Type up ahead?" Shane cursed in an exasperated manner.

"Yeah, a fucking Shade and we've got no way to actually hurt it," Branna added, confirming exactly what Shane didn't want to hear.

"Fuck!" Shane hissed, "Just what we needed. Why the fuck couldn't we have found Ida before we ran into fucking Demon Beasts!?" he loudly cursed before composing himself, "I guess that settles it then, we've got to go in stealthily and we absolutely cannot get caught or we're dead."

"No, you have to go in stealthily," Branna stated, "I'll be going back up into the air where it's nice and safe since there aren't any flying ones around."

"Yeah, yeah, I hope you crash into a tree," Shane huffed as Branna transformed back into a raven and flew back up into the sky before beginning to circle overhead.

"All right, time for us to get going then, Volug," Shane added before walking forward, the dire wolf following behind him, "And remember, we're doing this quietly," he said again, receiving a quiet bark in response as the two of them bent down under the foliage, carefully stepping to avoid any twigs while Volug tried to keep from leading Shane into the Demon Beasts. The two of them continued onward, advancing quickly and quietly until something could be seen through the foliage, a large, mangled and muscular monster that was covered in head to toe in a mixture of fur and scales, with claws almost as large as an average person's forearm and a head shaped like a feral wolf's.

A quick rush of feelings came over Shane, several flashes of the beast popping into his head from his first encounter with this kind of monstrosity, he could feel panic and excitement welling up inside him in equal measures, but they were quickly cut off when he felt his hand get licked and he looked down to see Volug looking up at him.

" _Right… We got through dealing with these then and we'll do it again,"_ he thought to himself before continuing to silently follow his canine companion over to a rock where they would be able to safely hide and rest while observing the monsters around them.

Shane quietly placed a hand on a nearby tree as he and Volug came to a stop behind the boulder before exhaling, calming and centering himself before bringing his magic to life, "Spiritmaster… Plant Link," he whispered as his magic poured into the tree, the tree, in return, pouring visions of its surroundings and history into Shane, allowing him to see everything in a 360 degree radius around the large plant, but also showing him a vision of a figure shrouded in a black cloak running past to the east.

"Ida!" he gasped as he released the link, "So she has been here… but that's where the Demon Beasts are thickest…" he added quietly to himself before reaching into the satchel he kept slung around his shoulder and pulled out a small mirror before attempting to reflect light back up into the sky through the trees above him, "I hope she saw that… There's only one Demon Beast here and a quick strike from above can kill it quickly," he muttered quietly to Volug before peering around the boulder to look at the large, Barghest prowling the area, a dark, foul aura clouding the area around its body, making its glowing, red eyes all the more intimidating.

Soon though, Branna pierced through the treetops before transforming back into her human form and drew two daggers from a Requip space as she landed atop the Demon Beast's shoulders and began stabbing downwards into its skull before it could even react, killing the monster quickly and quietly beyond the loud thud the beast made as it collapsed to the ground, a bloodstained Branna perched atop it.

"I suppose that's the difference between us Seekers and everyone else," Branna said with a smug look on her face, "Dead is dead and no one is any the wiser for it," she stated before climbing down off the beast and walking over towards Shane and Volug, "So what's so important that you needed me to come down here and kill that thing?"

"I think I know where Ida is," Shane admitted.

"No shit? Where's she at?" Branna asked eagerly.

"This tree saw her head east several hours ago, it was only after that, that all these Demon Beasts moved in," Shane explained as he lazily gestured off towards the east.

"Dammit… So we've got to head into the thick of it then," Branna sighed.

"And I bet there's more than fucking Shades in there too, betcha there's at least one Lindworm around here," Shane added as Branna began to groan.

"Not one of those demon wyverns! They're practically dragons!" the woman complained, "If we get cornered by one of those things, I'm leaving you behind!"

"I wouldn't blame you at that point, but you should probably stay out of the sky in case there is one around here," Shane suggested.

"You're probably right," Branna sighed as she pulled a black ring that was imbedded with a white lachrima off of her finger before it vanished into her requip space, quickly being replaced by a bronze ring that had a black lachrima imbedded into it, "In that case I'll be sticking to the trees when we move out."

"Right, we should probably…" Shane started to say before a loud, inhuman roar that sounded like a howl of pain reverberated throughout the area.

"That wasn't a Lindworm…" Branna eventually managed to say.

"That sounded much, fucking worse than a Lindworm… Whatever the fuck it was," Shane stated, cursing to himself as Volug started to growl, "Hey! Hey buddy! What is it?" Shane began to ask as he kneeled down to pat Volug and then looked up to where the dire wolf was looking and snarling towards, "Fuck it all," he cursed as he looked around to see several different types of Demon Beasts slowly walking towards them, many of them the skinny and frail, rock based Demon Beasts known as Shamblers, though he saw a few Barghests and even a ghostly Shade among them.

"Where the hell did they all come from!?" Branna shouted, "How the fuck did they sneak up on us!? How did they sneak up on Volug!?"

"I don't fucking know! It's like they just appeared out of nowhere!" Shane yelled back, his eyes locked on the hoard of demons staring them down, "How the hell is there even a group this big!? Blood Moon isn't for another week!"

"Save it for later, Shane! For now we need to get the hell out of here! There's no way we're beating that Shade when we can't even touch it!"

"Dammit! Spiritmaster: Link Speed! Reaction!" Shane announced as a glow of magic energy washed over him, Branna and Volug, "Time to get the fuck out of dodge!" he shouted as all three of them began to turn and run, only to see a figure shrouded in black with red eyes peeking out from under their hood running towards them and towards the hoard.

"Leave!" the figure commanded as they ran past.

"Ida!?" Branna gasped, "We came here looking for you!" she explained as Ida continued running towards the hoard that had begun to roar and move towards them at a quicker pace.

"So!? You've found me! Go back and tell Aliah she wasted her time again. I'm fine!" Ida bit back harshly.

"The hell we're leaving now!" Shane spat back, "I don't leave any search and rescue mission without making sure the person I was looking for comes back home."

"Tch… We don't have time to argue! Just stay the hell out of my way! And leave that Shade to me!" Ida growled back, commanding the two Seekers to do as she said.

"Shows up at the last minute and thinks she's in charge, huh? I'll show her," Shane grumbled as he walked towards the oncoming hoard.

"Grr… Who does she think she is? Bossing me around like that?" Branna growled before transforming into a two-foot-long black maine coon cat.

"So the Seekers actually want to stay and fight for once… Miracles never cease I see," Ida said lowly before a sneer came onto her face as she stared down the horde of Demon Beasts in front of her, "Compared to that monster from earlier, these are just small fry! Hardly even a decent snack!" she declared before thrusting her right arm out to the side from underneath her cloak before it quickly transformed into a black, clawed arm as her teeth sharpened and her pupils turned to slits, "I'll kill every last one of them!"

* * *

 **A/N:** And there it is! Chapter 3! Mysterious woman from last chapter has been revealed! Or at least, her name has. So that's a thing. Good luck learning anything else substantial about her for a while, mysterious woman is mysterious.

Credits:

Genevio "Gene" Norwald – mayurie

Kai Akana – MyDearWatson

Shane Varmus and Volug – Meteorthunder3

Branna Hayes – LexGem

Ida Ludolf – Dreadburner94

But now you guys have gotten to have a bit of an introduction into the Demon Beasts of the Blood Moon! And maybe something more dangerous? Ida might know… But I'm sure you were able to tell that there's lots of different types of Demons for our heroes to contend with, some much more dangerous than others.

Reviews

dragvil1996 – Glad you enjoyed it! Hope you enjoy this one too.

MyDearWatson – Yeah, Alessandro's all about putting on a truly magnifico performance for all to view, even his enemies. Too bad for them they're on the receiving end of it. And last time I just teased you with a mention of Kai, but you got to see her this time! Hopefully I did good with her.

mayurie – Alessandro's more just about putting on a magnifico performance, though that sometimes involves some rather cruel and unusual punishments for those on the receiving end. But yeah, there's still plenty of things for Rachel to learn, so I'll get a good bit of use out of her newbie-ness yet. But I wouldn't hold my breath for things to be all sunshine and rainbows for her either. Hope you enjoyed how I portrayed Gene this chapter!

Meteorthunder3 – Well, now you've got a bit of a teaser to what a Blood Moon is like on a small scale, more to come on that. But I hope you enjoyed how I portrayed Shane this chapter!

Mary Allen – Austin is the S-Class Guardian actually, Aliah mentioned it in the last chapter. But yeah, Alessandro's a fun one to write with how he is and acts. And yeah, we'll see just how long the whole innocent thing lasts in this story for Rachel.

Origm2012 – Yeah, new mages are fun. You get to see their whole story of a mage from start to finish and there's certain things you can only do with them from a writer's view too. Such as use them to explain the guild! It's useful.

Piece of Sheet – I was honestly worried about how I did with Alessandro. I was afraid I wrote him a bit too dark even after I toned it down a bit since I nearly just had him nonchalantly drop that dark mage into the pit of rabbits to be eaten alive after Austin showed up with the second dark mage, but I'm glad you enjoyed what you saw of him.

Torsa – From what I understand, the Rabbit of Caernnabog is exactly where the inspiration for Alessandro's rabbits comes from. But we'll have to see how Rachel does, she's got to get through whatever Kai's gonna do first really, but I'm glad you enjoyed how I wrote her last chapter and I hope I did as good this time too.

And with that, this A/N is finished. Hopefully you all enjoyed the chapter this time around!

Your host,

Dreadburner94.


	5. Skirmish in the Woods

**A/N:** Happy New Year! Chapter 4, coming at ya! Also, I have a few openings for male characters if anyone is interested! See below for details!

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Skirmish in the Woods**

 **August 22** **nd** **, X847**

Ida could only grin as she felt the Shambler's stone head crumble under her clawed grip, but the woman quickly cut that thought out of her head as she twisted her torso and lifted the stone demon from the ground, throwing it towards another one of the stone beasts, resulting in a very loud and satisfying crash as large pieces of rock splintered off of their bodies, resulting in a pile of rubble. Though Ida was quick to move on, not getting too caught up in the thrill of the fight as she ran off towards the next closest group of enemies, only muttering the word, 'Shade', under to herself before shadows came to life all over her body before they dispersed, Ida disappearing with them before reappearing in an eruption of shadows over the group of Shamblers she had been targeting, slamming down into them from above and ripping into them with the claws on her right hand.

"Now where are you…?" Ida muttered as she quickly surveyed her surroundings, looking past the many demons around her to try and find what she was looking for, "Dammit. Finding that giant bug will be harder than I thought. I'll just focus on the Shade for now," Ida growled before stepping out of the way of a few clumsy attacks from the Shamblers around her, their spear-like arms thrusting towards her before she tore through them with her clawed arm, "They're so weak," she mused before grabbing hold of one and throwing it through the air towards a Barghest she saw heading towards Shane.

"Tch… Bitch is actually able to back up all that talk, ain't she," Shane huffed after watching a flying Shambler collide with the Barghest heading towards him before quickly turning his attention back to the two Shamblers in front of him and Volug, the tall, skinny, stone demons staring him down with the single, red glowing eyes on their heads, "Straight up combat ain't really my forte, but that's why Volug is with me. Link: Strength! Endurance!" he announced as his magic enveloped his direwolf companion, "Your powered up! Go get 'em!" he ordered as Volug leaped into action, darting into the fray quicker than the clumsy stone demons could react as the wolf leapt up clamped its teeth down on one of the demon's heads, shattering it in the direwolf's powerful jaws as the rest of the Shambler's body collapsed on the ground.

"Great job! One more before we move on!" Shane cheered, eagerly watching as Volug charged towards the second Shambler, swiftly sidestepping an attack the demon made with its spear-like arm before circling around and separating the demon's head from its body much like the first one, "Fucking nice, Volug, now to make sure Branna doesn't bite off more than she can chew, Link: Strength. Perception. Agility."

"' _Bout time,"_ Branna thought to herself as she wove through the legs of the many Shamblers around her in maine coon form before leaping up slashing at one with her claws, the claws having enough strength to cleave through the demon's stone body thanks to Shane's enchantments. Branna didn't stop for a moment to take pride in her work though and immediately took off as soon as she hit the ground darting around far quicker than the Shamblers could even react to, _"I still don't like how there's so many Demon Beasts around here,"_ Branna thought as she leapt up again to cleave another Shambler in two taking off running again to confuse and harass her opponents before taking out a third demon in the same manner she did the first two, _"What even was Ida doing out here? Definitely not to hunt a Shade,"_ she continued before leaping up to pounce on a Shambler's head to tear into it with her claws before jumping to another and rending its head from its shoulders, pushing its body into the ground before taking off towards a tree to quickly climb it and take off towards Ida via the branches forming the canopy of the forest.

"It's probably really stupid to be suspecting my own guild mate of something, but I have to find out…" Branna mumbled to herself, though her thoughts were cut off as she saw a small head with two, large compound eyes atop it peak down from the branches above her, causing Branna to halt in her tracks as her fur stood on end, though she soon began to make a loud, meowing screech as she saw the creatures body emerge from the trees, long and multilegged body with two, large moth-like wings on its back. Soon though, Branna caught sight of what looked like yellow colored dust in the air, which gave her all the more reason to turn around and run off, making a screeching meowing sound the whole way as her fur puffed out even more.

"The hell is that sound?" Shane wondered out loud after Volug had dispatched another group of Shamblers, though he soon had his answer as he saw Branna leap out of the tree tops before running towards him, not slowing down for a moment before leaping up towards him, "Fuck no! Keep the hell away from me!" he tried to shout before Branna landed on his face and clung to him with her claws, muffling a storm of curses coming from Shane as he tried to pry Branna from his head.

Volug cocked his head for a moment, looking at the odd sight before walking up to Shane so that Branna had her back to him before letting out a loud bark, causing Branna to let go of Shane and leap up in the air, making another screeching meowing sound before falling to the ground and returning to her human form while Shane let out a string of colorful curses.

"The fuck was that about!?" Shane yelled loudly.

"Ew ew ew ew ew… I saw a Morstinea! It looked right at me with those huge, creepy eyes and it walked around on all those gross legs and those wings! Ew ew ew ew… It's going to look for me and burrow into my skin!" Branna blurted out, clearly freaked out from what she saw.

"Of course you're scared of bugs… But that would explain how all the demon beasts came out of nowhere… If we were under the influence of the Morstinea's toxic dust, then it could easily hide them all with its illusions," Shane reasoned, waiting for a moment to see if Branna would respond and only sighing when he realized she was still freaking out, "Well, Ida seems to have drawn off most of the demons, so we got real, fucking lucky there. They must really hate her or something," he added as he noticed a severe lack of demon beasts around them, though his thoughts were cut off by a loud flapping noise.

"Ew! Fuck no! I told you it was coming to burrow into my skin!" Branna screeched clearly panicking.

"It's a little big for that!" Shane shouted, noting the large and long body of the demon flying towards them, "It really is a giant, flying centipede moth isn't it?" he growled as he tried his hardest to come up with a way to deal with the beast in front of him, "I'll have to do it myself… Beast Link! Direwolf!" Shane announced as a blurry image of wolf ears appeared atop his head while a blurry wolf tail stuck out of the base of his tailbone, "Now… Share Link: Strength! Agility!" he shouted as his magic energy enveloped himself, Volug and Branna.

"Oh god. You're actually going to fight it, aren't you? Gross gross gross… You're actually going to touch that thing," Branna squeaked out in a panicked and disgusted voice.

"Shut the hell up already," Shane growled panting a small bit, "I'm already worn down from all these links, so the least you could do is stay close so I can draw on your Agility Link!"

"All right! Fine! I'll stay and watch you fight the gross bug! Just do me a favor and kill it quickly!"

"Stay back this time, Volug. I'm drawing heavily on your strengths right now," Shane ordered, Volug acknowledging him with a bark as Shane pulled a bandanna out of the bag on his bag and tied it around his head covering his mouth and nose. Once the cloth was in place to keep him from breathing in the toxic dust, Shane took off towards the giant, bug-like demon gliding towards them, the demon making a hiss-like noise as it dived towards the ground and sped up, obviously locked onto Shane as the mage came closer and closer to the demon. Though shortly before the Morstinae could collide with him, Shane leapt up into the air before stomping his foot down, punching a hole into one of the demon's wings and tearing through most of it as the beast collided with the ground, twitching and screaming in pain before scrambling back onto its many feet.

"Daggers, Branna!" Shane shouted as the Morstinae began to encircle him with its long body, inching closer and closer by the moment.

"Ah! Got it" Branna called back, drawing a couple of the short blades from her requip space before throwing them to Shane, the older mage catching the blades in the air and stabbing downwards into the demon's head just as it lunged forward to tackle him, squirting him in the face with a bit of yellow blood as the monster let out another cry before collapsing to the ground.

"Oh god, is it dead? It better be dead. I'm going to be having nightmares about this for week," Branna jabbered, "I really can't stand things like that. It's like that demon was hand tailored to freak me the fuck out."

"It's dead," Shane mumbled as he pulled the bandanna off of his face and began to wipe the yellow blood off of himself, "Now, where the hell did Ida get off to with all those demons? We just found her and she's already run off on her own."

"Shit! Right! I was going to go look for her before I ran into that thing!" Branna exclaimed.

"I'd guess she went off to where the demon beasts came from, cause that Shade probably tried to fuck off when she started tearing through them all," Shane tried to reason, "Though the trees will probably have a better idea."

"Good idea! We'll go where they say to go!" Branna said in agreement as she waited for Shane to establish his link.

 **. : + : .**

Ida couldn't help the sneer growing across her face as she pinned the Barghest down on the ground beneath her, her claws piercing into its chest as her fingers dug in deeper. The feeling of gaining more power was always euphoric and without those meddlesome guild mates around…

"No! Dammit!" Ida gasped as she pulled away from the dead demon, "They're not meddlesome! And they're not my enemy!" she continued to shout before feeling a sharp pain in her bandaged, left arm, "Looks like I let myself go again," Ida growled, "But I'm not done here," she continued to mumble before looking up into the air at the Shade floating up in front of her, "The fuck are you looking at, scum?" she asked rhetorically, knowing full well that the skeletal ghost demon floating in front of her wouldn't respond.

"Demon Beast Partial Take Over: Shade Aura," Ida lowly announced as a shadowy aura enveloped her as she took to the air, "Once I'm done with this trash, I can go looking for that Broodmother. I have to kill it before the next Blood Moon and it's so close, I won't let it get away this time! Now get the hell out of my way, scum!" Ida roared as her right arm was covered in darkness, the Shade taking off, flying backwards, obviously afraid of Ida as she charged towards it.

"The one time they actually get out of my way just has to be when I want to kill them, doesn't it?" Ida growled to herself as she dodged and weaved through the trees, quickly noticing an oncoming magic projectile and rolling out of the way, letting a tree take the impact instead, "So it wants to try and running and gunning does it? Well two can play at that game!" Ida shouted as she gathered magic energy into the palm of her hand before throwing it forward towards the shade in the form of a dark sphere, the attack impacting against a tree and exploding, "Tch… this'll be annoying… If only physical attacks worked on these. There's too much cover here for simple magical attacks to hit. I'd have to level the whole forest to kill this thing at this rate… Not a bad idea really since I can just absorb its what's left of the Shade afterward," Ida said with a devious smirk crossing her face, "Partial Take Over: Lindworm," she said lowly, her right arm becoming covered in black and red scales before an inferno of flames erupted in her right hand, the scales spreading further up her arm to begin covering her upper torso and neck, "Lindworm Art: Hellscape Blast," Ida muttered as the flames in her hand took on a black and red color before greatly expanding as she through the fireball forward and while it missed the Shade by a good bit, impacting against the ground, it released a large explosion that engulfed the area in flames, swallowing both the Shade and Ida whole in a fierce inferno of fire as the trees and plant life around them were reduced to charcoal and ash in seconds.

Ida rolled out of the explosion, a bit worse for wear, but still alive thanks to the lindworm scales covering her body, gasping and hissing in pain as she tried to pull herself to her feet before limping over to what she recognized to be what was left of the Shade. Ida collapsed to her knees in front of it before lifting her right hand up and dipping it into the smokey, black residue on the ground, her arm turning black as red lines appeared on it, running up the length of her arm, beyond the black that had covered it. Ida let out another gasp of pain as she felt her burns seal shut and heal up, though all of the pain she had felt across her body had now settled into her left arm and she was certain that it was now covered in terrible burns, though they were the least of her worries as a rushing feeling followed by a sharp pain shot through her head.

"Fuck that still hurts so much… You'd think I'd get used to that," Ida muttered as she rose to her feet, "On to business though. Thanks to that… I'm certain I know where the Broodmother is now," Ida stated as she began to walk away, pausing for a moment to look back to where Shane and Branna were, "No… I'm certain they can take care of themselves from here and they'd only get in my way. They're not fit for fighting demon beasts like a Broodmother."

 **. : + : .**

"All right kid!" Kai called out as she finished dragging Rachel back into the guildhall, practically shoving her in front of a large machine in the corner across from the bar area in the guildhall's main room, "This right here is the single most, fucking important thing in the guildhall. If you break it or damage it in any way, you better be fucking sure that you're gonna pay me to fix it!"

"A-All right. What's it do though?" Rachel asked, stammering a bit due to Kai's harsh tone.

"This is the Guild Information, Zoning and Mission Operating System, or the GIZMO for short. I made it myself, so I'll be royally pissed if it gets damaged," Kai explained, "It keeps track of member information, division organization and missions. But all you'll need it for is for taking missions and team building since you'll be able to look through basic info on your guild mates to build the best team for your missions."

"Was this the thing I used when I was filling out stuff in Aliah's office?" Rachel questioned, looking to the older woman.

"Yeah, though this is the main hub and the one you'll use ninety-nine percent of the time. Only the top members of the guild and myself get our own hubs to use. So if you want one, become a Guild Leader or some shit," Kai stated, obviously wanting to nick any requests to get a personal one in the bud before they came up.

"So… how does it work?" Rachel said, looking inquisitively at the machine before watching Kai reach a hand down towards it, pressing it against a large circle in the middle of the machine, causing a large holographic display to pop up that quickly sorted through a large number of files before displaying a basic file for Kai with several options listed at the bottom of the screen.

"This is basic page for guild member information, specifically, the current user's," Kai began, pointing at the holographic display in front of the younger girl, "The important things listed here are magic, rank, division and mission experience, got it?"

"I think so," Rachel muttered as she looked at Kai's page, seeing her magic listed as 'Life Spark' and seeing her rank and division being A-Class Guardian.

"I'll show you how to see other people's in a moment, first thing though, missions," Kai said as she poked a button simply called 'Missions', causing the display to shift to displaying five large buttons across the screen that had single letters on them, "These buttons here sort missions by rank, since I'm an experienced A-Class, it allows me to select D through S, though I have to have a sufficiently strong enough team and permission from up top to take an S-Rank. You're only going to see D and C and since you're so new to this whole mage thing, you'll need teammates to take a C-Rank mission, got it?"

"Yeah," Rachel answered simply.

"You better fucking got it!" Kai snapped, "If you try anything funny and end up in a mission that's more than you can handle you could die! So, do. You. Got. It," Kai repeated, practically growling the words to Rachel, causing her to squeak in fear a bit.

"I do!"

"Good. Now I'm going to show you the easy way to look up teammates," Kai huffed, pressing a finger against the button labeled with a large 'A', causing a list of missions to pop up across the screen while the word 'Guardian' was displayed boldly at the top, "This is a list of approved missions for an A-Class Guardian," Kai explained, "As you can see, none of these missions are any joke. No fetch quests or diplomatically minded missions here. Just straight up combat with some of the nastiest criminals out there, plus some more specific missions geared towards the Rebel Mages," Kai huffed, her voice losing a good bit of her normal edge towards the end, Kai's mind seeming to wander off as she became lost in thought.

"Are you all right?" Rachel asked, looking up at the older woman and away from the screen, "You look like you're zoning out there."

"Hm? Yeah, yeah. I'm real fucking dandy. Just remembered something that pisses me off is all," Kai replied, her face setting into a scowl before she pressed one of the buttons on the screen, "Once you pick a mission, click this button down here," she continued, pressing a button on the bottom of the screen called team, which caused the screen to shift again, sorting out into a list of names titled 'Recommended'.

"Recommended teammates?" Rachel questioned, a bit astounded at what the machine in front of her has done.

"Yeah, the GIZMO is able to analyze what we know about the mission and bring up a sorted list of guild mates for you to look through. It'll also sort out anyone it knows is currently on a mission too. Course you can pick whoever you want unless you have to have a member of higher rank with you. But let's click this one for now," Kai said as she pressed one with the name 'Cressidia Nightingale' on it, causing the screen to display information similarly to how it did when Kai started the machine up.

"Oh! Now it's showing her stuff!" Rachel gawked, "This really is the coolest!"

"Glad you think so. But if you just want to browse any guild member's basic info," Kai began, pressing another button that took them to a complete list of guild members, "This is where you'll find the full list. It's really easy to use and you'd have to be a fucking moron to not be able to figure it out. Any questions?"

"I don't think so," Rachel stated.

"Great. Let's get you broken in before the Blood Moon then," Kai said, pushing a few different buttons on the screen to log out and shut off the display, "Go ahead and log in and go to the mission screen," Kai requested, Rachel following suit and reaching the mission screen quickly, to only see two large buttons labeled D and C just as Kai said there would be.

"Normally, I'd say start out with a D-Rank, but you've got to get some real combat experience under your belt before you can hold a line against Demon Beasts in a week, so pick C," Kai stated, Rachel doing as she was told and bringing up the list for C-Rank missions.

"So which one should I pick?" Rachel asked, looking through the list.

"How about this one?" Kai suggested, pressing one on the screen labeled as 'Bandit Extortion', "Looks like a town refused to pay off a group of bandits and are now requesting help to defend the town."

"Eh? Isn't that a bit much for my first mission? I don't wanna put the cart before the horse on this one," said Rachel, a worried expression on her face.

"I ain't gonna send you on your own. You couldn't go alone anyways, the system won't let you. But it's perfect for what you'll be doing in a week," Kai explained, "I'm gonna help you pick out two teammates and then send you on your way."

"You're not going to come with me?" Rachel asked, Kai giving her a very unimpressed look in return.

"If I went with you, there'd be nothing for you to do," Kai sighed, "I'd fucking annihilate the lot of them moment they stepped in range. Look the point is for you to gain experience, not for me to show off. I'd go if I could, but you wouldn't get anything out of it. Now chin up girly, let's pick out those teammates for you and get you guys on the road," Kai said as she turned Rachel's attention back to the screen, helping her to pick appropriate teammates.

 **. : + : .**

Mya squirmed in place as she tried to pull the front of the short, frilled skirt she was wearing down, clearly not comfortable in the outfit she had been forced into wearing for this job.

"Mya, dear, try not to stress so much. You look lovely, the boys will be all over you once we get out there," a sensual woman said from the other side of the room they were in.

"E-easy for you to say, Cee… I'm really not comfortable in this maid outfit," Mya stammered, blushing as she realized that she accidently pulled the whole outfit down a bit too far before pulling it back up, "This outfit is way too short in all the wrong places…"

"All the right places you mean," Cee stated proudly, spinning around for Mya to see her in her own maid's outfit, the pale girl turning beet red at the sight.

"Cienne… Please don't," Mya pleaded as she covered her face in embarrassment, "How did I let you rope me into this mission?"

"I've been wondering that myself actually," Cienne replied as she brushed her long, wavy, burgundy hair back into place, "I think I just got lucky is all."

"It has more to do with the fact that you didn't tell me we would have to wear these… things," Mya sighed, "I really hope I don't see anyone I know today…"

"But that's the whole point! We're here to turn some heads and maybe even get some poor shy boys to make a move already!" Cienne protested boldly, "Just think! Maybe today you'll realize who the love of your life will be because they saw you and their jaw dropped straight to the floor and couldn't help but proclaim their love to you!"

"I think I'd prefer something more romantic than a guy drooling over an outfit like this…" Mya muttered.

"Mmm… No matter! We'll just have to get out there and strut our stuff and see what happens!" Cee happily declared, walking out of the room at a brisk pace while Mya hesitantly followed behind her, the owner of the restaurant they were working for giving them a good long stare as they collected their advertisement signs and stepped outside.

"He's going to be staring at us the whole time isn't he?" Mya groaned.

"Everyone will be staring at us, dear, be flattered about it for now," Cee advised, "Remember! Cheery smiles!" she added, tucking her sign under her arm before reaching over to Mya's face and stretching the shorter girl's lips into a smile, though they quickly dropped back into a frown as soon as Cee let go.

"Ah-ha! I knew we'd find something nice if we went into town for a meal!" they heard a familiar voice shout.

"Oh god no. Not him," Mya groaned, "Not Lev."

"Oh? Does someone have a crush?" Cee teased.

"Not even close…" Mya stated bluntly as the familiar voices drew closer.

"Indeed," a second voice said in agreement with Lev, "Truly a beautiful pair of women we've come across. Their outfits accentuate them just perfectly in fact, most certainly beautiful works of nature."

"Ah! Lev and Zack! What a lovely surprise to see the two of you here!" Cee called out in greetings, "Did you find something you like?" she asked in a sultry tone, Lev turning beet red before his eyes landed on Mya.

"Oh shit! Mya!" Lev cursed in surprise, practically jumping behind the much taller and broader Zack for cover, "What are you doing here?" he asked, peeking from behind the man as Mya wore an angry pout on her face.

"I got dragged into this," Mya huffed.

"Ah, this is about that incident with Mya's stolen underwear isn't it?" Zack observed, looking between Mya and Lev.

"Shit man! Don't remind her! She'll get Aliah to beat my ass into the ground again!" Lev shouted.

"As if I could forget that…"

"I'd think it hard to," Zack added.

"Well this is certainly a lovely and tense situation!" Cienne called out, gaining everyone's attention, "But how about you two wonderful gentlemen come inside and help and couple of lovely ladies get paid, hm?"

"We did come into town to eat and you wanted a place that served good coffee," Zack said, looking down at Lev.

"Yeah, alright… Just, don't sick Aliah or anything on me," Lev pleaded, stepping out from behind Zack.

"Just behave, please," Mya sighed.

"We'll be on our best behavior," Zack said with a bright smile before walking into the restaurant, Lev following behind him, keeping an eye on Mya until he was safely inside.

* * *

 **A/N:** Obviously the Morstinea's gonna be everyone's favorite Demon Beast ever with its fly-like head, centipede-like body and its giant moth wings. And Branna might've been on to something regarding its origins.

Also, fun fact! The GIZMO is named after my girlfriend's cat.

Credits:

Cienne "Cee" Rosaline – Mary Allen

Zephyranthes Algorian Chuthulia Krato "Zack" – Death Obelisk

I totally meant to introduce two more characters this chapter, but the chapter wrote itself into different direction… Ah well, next time for sure!

All right! So, as you all might've seen above, I've got an opening for male characters, preferably aged anywhere from 16 to 29 and in either the Hunters, Seekers or Curators. For rank, I have two S-Class spots open, one for the Hunters and one for the Seekers, but otherwise, anything but A is available unless you're making a curator, as I don't have any A-Class Curators. I'm not too picky about magic right now asides for what's on my profile though, but make sure that you PM that you're interested before you start working on the character. In total, I'll be taking up to 5 new male characters.

Also, at this point, all currently outstanding reservations have been cancelled due to excessive amounts of time having passed as they have been sitting around since October with largely no word of progress or intent to fill the reservations, which is why the S-Class spots have opened back up. This is being done due to the fact that these unfilled reservations are making it difficult to plan and write (in addition to giving me a distinct lack of male characters), as such, any new reservations for these new characters will have a time limit of 2 weeks before being cancelled and opened for someone else to fill.

Anyways, on to the reviews!

Reviews

Origm2012 – There's lots of stuff going on all over the place. Mostly because there was a lot of stuff going on before the timeline of the story started during the prologue as I've kind of created a big world with a whole lot of problems that just don't seem to go away. But there's going to be a lot of different kinds of demon beasts and you've only met four of them with two more kinds being mentioned so far. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

MyDearWatson – Yeah, lots of cursing last chapter. High tensions on the Seeker mission and Kai just seems to use curses as everyday adjectives. But there's a lot of different personalities in the Seekers and they go from one extreme to the other with proud, boastful Gene to quiet and grumpy Austin. Hope you enjoyed seeing more of Kai this chapter!

Condor-K – Well, Kai basically uses curses as adjectives, but cursing is an odd thing for me to try to write as I don't really curse at all myself. So it's a struggle for me to write, but I hope to improve. But yeah, the action you were wanting last chapter was planned to be in this one from the start, so I hope you enjoyed it and seeing the Seekers and Ida strut their stuff on the battlefield.

Mayurie – Glad you enjoyed my portrayal of Gene last chapter, he's a fun one and I've pretty much nicknamed him as Gene "I shout every word I say" Norwald since most of his lines ended with an exclamation point.

Piece of Sheet – Yeah, with pretty much making a whole new world and using and writing characters that have lived in it, I like to casually mention things that the characters would know about in dialogue as they would know what it is. There was a lot of exposition in this chapter though simply because Rachel wouldn't have any idea of what the GIZMO is or how to use, though everyone else would simply be like, "Oh yeah, the GIZMO, I know how to use that." But it's part of her learning how to be in the guild and shows more about how life in the guild works, so, it worked for me. Plus Rachel's my exposition tool right now anyways since she needs all this stuff explained to her right now. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Mary Allen – Glad you enjoyed the last chapter. The Blood Moon's Demon Beasts are something I'm still working on to be honest, but that's the fun part since I created that whole class of monster, I get to create whatever kind of monster I need to suit my needs rather than relying on what's in canon. But there'll be a lot more than the one's revealed so far. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my portrayal of Cienne this chapter!

Tsuyurin – Yep! Things are really serious over there with the Seeker team and Ida. Usually anything to do with Demon Beasts is though. But yeah, there's a lot of personality in the Guardians, so Rachel's in for one hell of a ride. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Now that this A/N is finished and this chapter is posted, I gotta get ready for work!

Your host,

Dreadburner94.


	6. For the Good of the Guild

**A/N:** And here I am with Chapter 5 for your enjoyment!

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 5: For the Good of the Guild**

 **August 23** **rd** **, X847**

It was a dark night. Clouds filled the sky as the waxing moon shone eerily through, the sounds of the waves beating against the cliffside far below the guildhall as Aliah stood atop the wall, waiting in the darkness. She looked up to the sky as the moon peeked out from behind its cloudy cover. The pale white light shining down on Bittercress as happier memories filled Aliah's mind, back from the days from before the blood red moon was a sign of imminent death and destruction. She sighed, wondering if she would ever see the full moon again in its natural state, but her thoughts soon turned to those who had never before seen the beauty of the full moon, like Rachel, and had only ever known the ominous Blood Moon that would soon be upon them again.

"Master Aliah," she heard Austin call out from behind her, two prisoners tied together with rope and cuffs while Alessandro followed up from the rear.

"Ah! Buonsera, Maestro Aliah!" the eccentric man said in greeting as Aliah turned to face the four men, "My bene amico and I have returned from our mission to apprehend these men and destroy the rest!"

"D-destroy!?" one of the prisoners gasped, "You didn't say anything about destroying our guild!"

"I did not need to, mio amico. But I do wonder where you thought my bene Guardian friend went while I asked you my many domande? He did not go for an idle walk, capire?" Alessandro responded a look of abject horror crossing the faces of the captive dark mages.

"The rest were killed. As you requested," Austin stated coldly, "And they knew just as much as you feared they did."

"I see… Good work, Austin. I can always count on you when I need the hard decisions carried out," Aliah replied, a hardened look coming over her face, as she steeled herself in her mind for what she was about to do, "So… You know about him? You know about my mother's plan? About what she did right under the State's nose?" she asked staring coldly towards the dark mages.

"We don't have to tell you anything!" one of the dark mages spat out harshly.

"Yeah! We don't owe dogs of the State like you anything! If anything, we should go and tell the State what you did so they'll come down on all of you!" the second one shouted.

"They know most of the details, Master," Austin stated, "Though some of the more obscure, damning facts remain hidden, even from Alan and Knights Harrowing."

"I suppose it's impressive what all mother managed to do in secret. How much of this does Knights Harrowing actually know? How much have they shared?" Aliah asked, looking to Austin and Alessandro.

"Our bene amicos are safe for now," Alessandro replied, letting out a sigh, "There is no big rischio for now and the details are in our report for you to view in vita privata."

"So all the danger would pass for now if these two were to…" Aliah muttered, trembling a small bit.

"If you wish, I can do it," Austin said, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder.

"No… I need to take responsibility as Guild Master and protect the guild, even if that means soaking my hands in blood," she declined while shrugging Austin's hand off her shoulder, "So… when the State's liaisons arrive in a few days… They jumped to their deaths rather than risk being taken prisoner, got it?" Aliah instructed coldly, stepping towards the dark mages, the two of them trying to scramble away before Aliah reached out and grabbed one of them by the arm, pulling him towards the cliff and throwing him over, dragging the second one towards the cliff via the rope that tied them together, though he managed to get caught on the wall and hold his friend up.

"Please! Don't do this! Don't kill us!" he pleaded loudly, "You're free mages! We're on the same side! Don't kill us please!"

"I'm sorry… But it's for the good of the guild… And I'll do anything to keep them safe," Aliah whispered softly, bending down to grab the man by the ankles and throw him over the wall, sending the two men falling to their deaths, Aliah steeling herself to watch them go all the way down and impact against the jagged cliff wall before falling into the ocean.

"Maestro," Alessandro said softly, looking to his guild master even as he saw tears form in her eyes, "Will you be all right, my caro amico?"

"Yes," Aliah answered as she quickly turned around to walk back inside, the two older men looking towards her with concern, "It's just raining is all."

The two men stood there a while longer, watching Aliah retreat back inside the guildhall.

"It is such a heavy burden our poor Maestro carries upon her shoulders, is it not?" Alessandro eventually said, breaking the silence between the two men.

"Indeed. I worry sometimes that she allows her mother to control her too much, especially considering that Alesia has been dead for two years now," Austin admitted, "You were closer to them. Was their relationship always that way?"

"In a manner of speaking, mio amico," Alessandro said, recounting his memories of them, "There always seemed to be some degree of control, but it never seemed anything out of the ordinary."

"Perhaps there's something we don't see then that only Aliah and perhaps Mordekai know," Austin reasoned.

"I would wager that it stems from something to do with Aliah's father, but that is a matter we have no business involving ourselves in, va bene?"

"Agreed, though I never knew the man," Austin huffed.

"Nor did I," Alessandro concurred, "But it is late in the night and morning has yet to come. So let us riposo for the night," the eccentric Seeker suggested, Austin giving a grunt in response before the two went back into the guildhall for the night.

 **. : + : .**

It was an overcast morning as three mages drove through the countryside of western Fiore, the open top, magic vehicle they were in allowing their hair to flow in the wind.

"I though magic vehicles had a thing that plugged into your arm?" Rachel asked loudly over the sound of the wind and the engine.

"That's the old model," the woman driving answered back, whose name Rachel knew to be Cressidia after Kai had introduced them the night before, "They managed to make lachrima powered models a few years back thanks to all of the recent military advancements, so no more SE-plugs to drain our magic energy unless we get run out of fuel," Cressidia explained.

"I've never seen one before now!" Rachel happily exclaimed.

"You must be from the middle of nowhere then," the third girl in the vehicle huffed, who Rachel knew to be Danae, "They were everywhere back where I'm from!"

"I'm from a small mining town on the north side of Mt. Hakobe," Rachel admitted, "It's called Margritta Town.

"You're a long way from home then," Cressidia stated, "What made you come all the way out to the western coast to join a guild?"

"All the stories about the guild! All of the heroic tales of Lucent Knights banding together and saving the day, beating back the Blood Moon and protecting the people!" Rachel answered cheerfully, bouncing up to the front seat next to Cressidia.

"I don't know how much of that we do these days, unfortunately," Cressidia admitted, "We've been beat down hard in the last couple of years."

"C'mon! We still beat up the bad guys and save the day!" Danae interjected, "Don't crush the kid's dreams so quickly, jeez."

"And we're going to go save people right now, aren't we?" Rachel questioned, Cressidia letting out a small laugh.

"I guess we are, aren't we? Still, there's no question that we used to be able to do so much more before the split and Master Alesia's death," Cressidia said in a somber tone, "I only knew her and got to experience the whole guild for a few months, but things were much busier back then."

"Yeah! Back then we had the full set of Norwood Twins! The Asi and so many more cool mages running around!" Danae burst, "Though they kinda up and left with Alan and took a lot of our higher ranked mages with them. Even us D-Classes are in short supply," Danae admitted.

"Are things really that bad for the guild?" Rachel questioned.

"Well, yeah, to be honest," Cressida responded, "The Blood Moon is the biggest problem and it kind of caused the rest of them though. So maybe, if we can stop it things will go back to normal."

"Kind of wishful thinking there, Cress," Danae sighed.

"Oh, come on. We have to have faith. Without that, what else do we have?"

"Eh. I guess you're right. But I'd feel better if we back that up with a lot of magic power!" Danae laughed.

"So how much longer until we get to Mallow Town?" Rachel asked.

"Well, it's a bit out of the way. Which explains how bandits have been able to get to like they have, so perhaps a couple of hours at most. Depends on how many stops we make really," Cressidia explained, "Though lets go over how the fight's going to go while we're on the road. Basically, since I'm B-Class I'll be doing the heavy lifting as our frontline fighter. Rachel, I want you to back me up. Do what you can, defend yourself if you get attacked."

"I can do that!" Rachel chirped, a bit nervous now that she realized she was about to step into her first battle.

"Danae, you'll be crowd control. Harass the bandits and do what damage you can and try to take out anyone that gets past us."

"No problem, Cress. I'll pick off all the stragglers, just watch!"

"All right. I'll come up with proper positioning and strategy once we get there if we have the time. I'd prefer to hit them hard before they reach us if we can," Cressidia stated, "I don't expect a difficult fight, but bandits can be tricky and unpredictable, so stay on your guard. I want us all to come back in picture perfect health!"

"Right!" the other two girls said in unison as the trio continued heading to their destination.

 **. : + : .**

"Thanks so much for helping me out here, Kiyoshi!" a happy, bubbly woman called out as a man hammered at a wall, reinforcing it with sheets of metal, "I've brought you and the others some lunch!"

"Ah, Carly. Hello," Kiyoshi greeted in response as he watched the pink haired girl head towards him with a basket of simple sandwiches in it, "It's much appreciated," he said before wiping the sweat off his brow and reaching out to take a sandwich.

"So how's the wall going?" Carly asked as she walked around her silver-haired companion to further inspect the metal covered, wooden wall.

"Slower than I'd like, quicker than I'd feared," Kiyoshi answered, "Even with the extra help it's still taking too long, but if we rush it, even a Shambler will be able to rip it open and waltz on in."

"Well, how about I help you all speed this up then?" Carly suggested.

"Oh? Is your magic finally ready to go?" Kiyoshi asked eagerly.

"Yep! The Super S-Class Curator is ready to go! With my help, you'll have all these walls ready and raring to take some punches!" Carly boasted, striking a proud pose as she did so, though she quickly turned and walked away from Kiyoshi, "But first, lunch break!" she chirped happily as she moved from worker to worker, handing out sandwiches, leaving Kiyoshi sighing at her antics.

"After all that build up even," he sighed, knowing that it would at least be another half an hour before the eccentric S-Class was ready to help him and the others, "I suppose it can't be helped though, so I better get back to work," he said before wolfing down the sandwich and picking his hammer back up before going back to pounding away at the metal to secure it in place. He continued his work this way for nearly another hour before he saw Carly again, the man internally sighing when she came back around to him.

"Yo!" she greeted happily, acting as if nothing had really been going on.

"Erm… Carly," Kiyoshi said in return, trying not to outwardly sigh in front of her.

"Yep. What is it?" the S-Class responded happily.

"I don't mean to be rude, and I apologize if I come off as such, but are you going to… well… help any?" Kiyoshi asked as politely as he could, given the situation. Though Carly began mock laughing in return soon after.

"Fufufu… Your patience has been awarded my friend! Now I am truly ready to aid you and empower all of you with the powers of my virtues!" Carly boasted loudly in a very showy manner, drawing all sorts of odd looks towards her, "Now! Virtue Empowerment: Patience! Increase the sturdiness of my allies! Help them to endure their painful task!" she announced, holding out her hand as a pink magic circle appeared in front of her, showering Kiyoshi and all of the workers in a pink light, each and every one of them feeling a substantial increase in their strength and stamina.

"Now! With that, I'm off back into town! Have fun out here with the wall, Kiyoshi!" Carly said happily with a wave before running off.

"Say what you will about her personality, but her enchantments are the best around," Kiyoshi huffed quietly to himself before going back to work, his progress much quicker than before.

 **. : + : .**

"Shane!" Aliah shouted into the small crystal ball in front of her, "I can't hear you! Try and clear it up some!"

" _I-zzshhht-ing-zzssshhht. Too many-zzzssshhhtt. Ida ran o-zzzzsssshhhhtttt. Branna in-zssssshhhhhtt."_

"Shane!" Aliah yelled as Shane's fuzzy image disappeared from the crystal ball, "Dammit!" she cursed, slamming her fist into the table.

"If their magic communicator is acting up like that, it can only mean one thing is near," Mordekai stated, everyone in the room around him knowing exactly what he meant.

"Demon Beasts," Aliah said lowly.

"Morstineas to be precise," an ash-blonde haired woman stated, "I would assume Shades as well. Possibly something even worse," she continued.

"We need to send a second team in, Salem," Aliah said, looking to the woman.

"I'm inclined to agree. Shane and Branna will not be capable of completing this task alone. Especially if Ida is still recklessly charging forward. She'll need to be reigned in after this, Kane," Salem said lowly, looking off towards a tall, spiky green haired man on the other side of the table.

"Don't look at me," Kane huffed, crossing his arms as he returned Salem's cold stare, "Ida's never taken a single order I've given her. The only person she remotely listens to is Aliah."

"It'll have to wait until after the Blood Moon," Aliah sighed, "Though I don't know what you expect me to do. She only respected my mother, not me."

"Regardless of this issue regarding Ida's recklessness," Mordekai interjected, looking at each of them in the eyes as a signal for them to drop the issue, "We must decide on our course of action. We are sending a new team of mages, but who will we send? We have precious few mages capable of this task and we need our best close at hand for the oncoming Blood Moon."

"The Guild Coordinator's right. None of us can go and the S-Class are a no go either. Besides, my S-Class is already out on business," Kane added in agreement.

"I would suggest Titus go," Salem suggested, "Have him form a team of B-Class Mages capable of fighting all types of Demon Beasts."

"I think Titus is the best choice as well," Aliah sighed, "We have plenty of high ranking Guardians to pick up the slack, so we can afford to spare him right now.

"We're in agreement then," Mordekai announced, "Good. Then I shall go and inform him of his new mission," Mordekai stated, standing up from the table he was sitting at in the guild's meeting room and exciting out into the second floor hallway, the tall man briskly walking down it and to the stairs before entering the main room, quickly looking through it and at each of the mages in it. Not seeing his son, Mordekai headed for the training yard outside, walking out a side door and toward the yard. Seeing his son diligently training there, he called out for him.

"Titus! A situation has a come to our attention," he stated as he neared Titus and the two men near him, Klein and Lev.

"A situation, father?" Titus asked inquisitively.

"Yes. A Seeker team has landed themselves in a spot of trouble out in Celosia Forest. Demon Beasts are about, and their target lies in the middle of them," Mordekai explained.

"Whoa, wait. Demon Beasts?" Lev interrupted, "How many are we talking about for there to be a problem?"

"We're not certain on their numbers," Mordekai admitted.

"Sounds like a real troublesome situation you've got there, Mordekai," Klein stated casually, "But why come and tell Titus about it?"

"He has been chosen by guild leadership to lead a team into the forest, rendezvous with the Seekers and retrieve their target," the Guild Coordinator answered.

"I see. And you're certain I'm the most qualified for this?" Titus asked.

"No. But you were the one we chose. If not for the Blood Moon being so close, this would have gone to Austin since he arrived back at the guild last night, but it is too close for us to spare him, so the task has fallen to you," Mordekai explained.

"I understand, father. I accept your mission," Titus answered in a serious tone.

"Good. You are required to form a team composed of yourself and three B-Class Mages of your choice. But be careful that you plan to be ready to combat all types of Demon Beasts," Mordekai warned, "This is an S-Rank Mission and your lives will be on the line."

"Of course, father. I'll be sure to come back with everyone alive and well," Titus responded, standing straight.

"Good. The Seekers Shane and Branna will know more when you find them, or when they find you more likely. Once you find them, you will be joining their search to find and rescue Hunter Ida Ludolf. You are to leave as soon as your preparations are complete in no more than an hour. Time is of the essence," Mordekai instructed, staring his son in the face before nodding and turning to walk away.

"I won't let you down, father! I won't let Aliah down either!" Titus called out after his father, though he soon found himself being twisted around to by Lev.

"You gotta let me in on this! You need a Hunter and I'm B-Class!" Lev pleaded, practically demanding it.

"Calm down a moment, Lev, I need to think," Titus sighed, shrugging Lev's hands off his shoulders, "Besides, S-Rank missions are no joke. You can't just participate in one because you want to."

"Look! I know I'm not as good a swordsman as you, but I'm the only B-Class Hunter at the guild right now!" Lev interjected, still up in Titus' face.

"Well, what do you think, Klein? Is he ready? You're the A-Class Hunter after all," Titus asked, looking to the older man for advice.

"Well, in normal situations I'd say hold off on it. But this isn't a normal situation. So might as well make it a trial by fire," Klein suggested, shrugging his shoulders.

"All right Lev. You can come with me," Titus relented, Lev letting out a loud 'yes' in celebration.

"You won't regret this man! I'll go get ready right now!" Lev said excitedly before running off towards the guildhall.

"I'm still worried about bringing him along," Titus muttered, watching the younger man run into the guildhall.

"Look, Titus," Klein began before standing up and walking over to the blond man, "I know he's no Celene. Hell, she'd wipe the floor with him and maybe the ceiling too with how aggressive she is in a fight. But she left. She chose her side of the fight and that just happened to be Knights Harrowing's side. So you've got to trust that Lev can hold his own. He's a strong swordsman in his own right even if he's not on your level yet, but he'll get there."

"I know. It's been about two years now, but I still can't shake the unease of going into a fight without someone that's always been my equal in a fight," Titus admitted, "I was always Paladin Titus and she was Dark Knight Celene, two sides of the same coin."

"Are you worried that one day you'll have to fight her?" Klein asked.

"I am. And I don't think I could win either. Not because she's stronger… But because I don't think I could bring myself to fight her as if I planned to kill her."

"We're all going through something similar, kid. So don't worry about needing to lean on one of our shoulders from time to time, all right?" Klein said, looking at Titus in the face while he patted him on the shoulder, stopping once Titus nodded in response, "Good. Not get going. You've got a mission to plan and teammates to recruit and guild mates to save!"

"Of course," Titus said, turning to leave, though he stopped after taking a few steps before looking back at older man, "Thanks, Klein."

"Anytime, kid."

* * *

 **A/N:** And there it is! Chapter 5! That first scene got kinda dark, but then again, that's just a taste of what's to come. But hey! We got some characters introduced, even if they were brief intros. But two of them were Guild Leaders!

Credits:

Cressidia Nightingale – WhitewolfLune

Carly Milton – tobodobo1996

Kiyoshi Blackthorn – LexGem

Salem Ashbark – spicy guy

Kane Strix – Death Obelisk

Also, I still have an opening for a male Hunter! Same restrictions as what I put in the last chapter and are on my profile. Contact me if you're interested in making him!

Reviews

Meteorthunder3 – Glad you liked what you saw of Shane. Just a tiny role in this chapter, but he'll be back soon. Hope you enjoyed it.

MyDearWatson – Yep, the Seekers can still put up a good fight. A good deal of them are more suited for smaller fights or even for taking a support role though. And of course the Morstineas will be back! They got a special mention this chapter even cause I knew how much you loved them. And Lev will be Lev. Let's hope he doesn't cause any trouble on this upcoming S-Rank Mission though!

LexGem – Yeah, being eaten by rabbits wouldn't be too good of a way to go, though apparently the alternative for that guy was getting tossed off a cliff… soooooo. Tough luck for him really. Glad you like how I'm doing with Branna so far, but yeah, her and Shane are very much the type to bicker with each other, even though they have really good chemistry in a fight. But Branna's fear of bugs is what inspired me to actually make a giant bug as a Demon Beast. Yep. Take Over Magic. That's all it is. I'm definitely not hiding secret details about it and Ida and those lovely side effects. Don't disturb the man behind the curtain! Yeah, Kai's actually really nice. It's just that she uses curses as adjectives so you kinda gotta get past that bit of her personality. Though if you dare to so much as put a scratch on the GIZMO… well, let's just say there are worse fates than dying. Hope you enjoyed the small bit of Kiyoshi!

Piece of Sheet – The cursing's actually kind of lacking in the Hunters right now. I'd say a very large percentage of the cursing in the guild is done by Kai and Shane alone really. Though as I said last chapter, creative cursing is a struggle for me to write as I don't really curse at all. So bear with me please. And yeah, I try to encourage more creative magics over the bland and boring ones that we've all seen a thousand times, that or give old ones new twists to make them fresh and new again. But the Demon Beasts are probably one of my favorite things from a creative standpoint as they really give me tons of freedom to do whatever I want. So expect to see a good deal more of them and new ones.

Mary Allen – Glad you're enjoying the Demon Beasts so much. But yeah, the GIZMO is an incredibly useful device for the guild. But it also gives me the perfect excuse to regularly mix up the teams, though you should expect some mages try to stick together regardless. Glad you enjoyed my portrayal of Cienne last chapter, poor Mya got to be her victim though. And I'm sure you'll see a few more of those doors opening up this chapter with new names and things for you all to ponder over.

Cheshire Neko-chama – Glad you enjoyed the chapter, hope you enjoyed this one as well.

WarMachine375 – Well, I went over the whole review in a PM so I don't have to write an essay here in response. But for the benefit of everyone else, here are some key points I made presented in a silly manner. Question everything! Who's actually right!? Fiore Military stronk! X829 not a good year for anybody! Lucent Knights is in a bad and tricky position! Blood Moon terrifying! Fear the Dark! Something wicked this way comes! Rebellion is crafty! Shades of gray everywhere! And Aliah just murdered two defenseless guys in cold blood this chapter, oh my god! Even Lucent Knights has gray morality! Are they really the "good guys"!? But anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

Anyways, this A/N is donezo. See you all next time.

Your host,

Dreadburner94.


End file.
